


Codependency

by Minky-way (Cardgamesonmotorcycles)



Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Accident at Work, Adopted Children, Adopted OC's, Adoption, Arguing, Bad Cooking, Coma, Cooking, Cosplay, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dancing, Engagement, Handcuffed Together, Holding Hands, Honeymoon, Hospitals, Kissing, Lazer tag, M/M, Making Up, Marriage, Memory Loss, Noiz & Aoba's adopted daughter, Onesies, Onsen, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Rockclimbing, Shopping, Spooning, Stag Night, Temporary Amnesia, Trips and Falls, Unprepared uncle, Weddings, mention of vomiting, wedding anniversary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-30
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-01-21 10:28:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 63,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1547366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cardgamesonmotorcycles/pseuds/Minky-way
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>30 Day MizuSei Challenge<br/>Varying in length</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Holding Hands

The first time Mizuki tried to hold Sei’s hand, he missed, his hand flapping uselessly in empty air as Sei’s small hand slipped into a pocket, complaining it was cold. Mizuki just smiled sheepishly, rather glad the ravenette hadn’t noticed his failed attempt. His palms were sweating and he was ridiculously nervous.

They weren’t even technically dating, sure, they’d just been on what he counted as a date, for a coffee and then to the cinema, but he didn’t know if Sei just thought they were hanging out as friends. What if holding his hand was weird? What if it freaked him out and he didn’t want to be Mizuki’s friend anymore.

He could feel bile rising in his throat at the idea of losing the pale boy and barely noticed Sei’s concerned glances as they walked in silence.

Silence had always unnerved Mizuki, when he’d been tricked by the Yakuza twins they had locked him in a deathly silent room. The only sounds had been his own breathing and his soft whimpers as he tried to see through the inky blackness, ears straining for any sign he wasn’t alone. The darkness seemed to press in, making his lungs tight and his breath come in gasps. The walls closed in, crushing him and squashing him until he couldn’t stop the ragged breaths and sobs that left his mouth. His throat was burning where they had tattooed him and he could taste blood in his mouth as he gnawed at his inner lip continually, reducing it to a bloody pulp. The dark was suffocating, he couldn’t breathe and he couldn’t see and there was no way out and he was chained in place-

“Mizuki?” A soft voice and a hand grasping his pulled him from the memory, large dark eyes staring up at him from a pale face. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t realise he was barely breathing until the hand squeezed his, taking a much needed gulp of air and filling his lungs, taunting black spots on his vision fading away. “N-nothing, I’m fine. Just.. thinking.”

It was obvious Sei didn’t believe a word of it, raising an eyebrow in disbelief but not questioning Mizuki, just glad the haunted look in his eyes had disappeared. He’d seen the same look in his own eyes, in Aoba’s, in Noiz’s. They all had their own secrets and painful memories, he and Mizuki under the hands of Toue and his minions. He didn’t know exactly what Mizuki had done, why his neck was permanently covered in bandages, or what part Aoba had to play in it, but he was sure the tanned male would tell him eventually. But for now, changing the subject to something more pleasant seemed like a good idea.

“That film was good.”

Mizuki looked surprised at the sudden, obvious change, but gave a grateful sigh and answered happily, continuing their way home with light chitchat about the actors and the funnier parts.

It wasn’t until Aoba opened the front door and shot Mizuki a knowing, almost lecherous look that he realised his and Sei’s hands were still connected, fingers having intertwined sometime on the journey home. After an embarrassed goodbye, and some less than subtle comments from Aoba, Mizuki set off home. Hand clutched to his chest and a stupid grin on his face as he remembered the way fragile fingers had felt in his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- minky-way.tumblr.com  
> 


	2. On a Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If nobody died, then surely it can't have been that bad? Right?

Their first date had been, to put it lightly, a disaster. There'd been a dangerous spill of boiling hot coffee that could easily have scalded the skin from Sei's hand, a bruised cheek from a paving slab Mizuki had tripped on, and now, Sei had somehow managed to get them lost.

"Oh my God, this is ridiculous, we've definitely been here before."

"I swear it was this way.. I'm sorry Mizuki, I'll get us back eventually…”

Mizuki was normally a patient man, but this was starting to get stupid now, they’d been walking round a less than savory part of the island for nearly an hour now, it was beginning to get dark, and worst of all, both their Coils were out of charge, leaving them stranded. He lit yet another cigarette, realizing with growing dread that the box was nearly empty and soon he’d have to deal without the momentary relief they granted him.

It was, quite frankly, laughable. They’d been out plenty of times before, to the cinema, or coffee shops, or just to browse the shops and stalls that lined the busy streets. Yet the first time they went out on a date, when it had been understood by both parties that yes, this was in fact not the same as their usual outings, they’d both fallen to pieces. Conversation had been more awkward and stilted than it ever had been, hands had been wiped on jeans one too many times for it to look like anything but nervously sweating palms, and Mizuki had spent much of the time bright red and stammering. Not to mention, Sei was sickly at best, and really shouldn't have been on his feet so long. The night air was growing colder and neither of them were really dressed for it, Mizuki in a hoodie and muscle vest, and Sei in a thin sweatshirt. It was bad for his damaged lungs to get too cold, and Mizuki knew if he caught a simple cold it could take his friend weeks to get over it, and could easily develop into something more threatening like pneumonia.

“You cold?” Mizuki asked, annoyance fading out of his tone as he noticed Sei’s arms wrapped around his torso in a vain attempt to stop his visible shivers.

“Mn,” Sei shook his head and smiled weakly, but his breath came out as steam and both boys knew he was lying. “Well, a little.”

Mizuki didn't even think about how he was going to keep warm, shrugging off his hoodie and offering it to Sei without a seconds thought.

“No, you’ll get cold, I’m fine!” Sei tried to object, but Mizuki was already shrugging it over his shoulders, warmth seeping into his bony spine.

“Do you want to get sick?” Mizuki asked firmly, waiting for the head shake he knew would come. “I thought not, I’ll be okay.”

They were silent for a moment longer, Sei sliding his arms into the sleeves and doing up the zip, hands lost in the swathes of material. “So cliché…”

Mizuki immediately felt his cheeks flush as he heard Sei’s amused mutter, turning to attempt to glare at him, averted eyes not helping at all. “I’ll take it back if you don’t want it.”

The half threat amused Sei further, raising one slim black eyebrow and smirking at his friend, “I never said that.”

“Then don’t be mean.” Mizuki continued, rapidly changing the conversation as he spotted what he hoped was a familiar landmark. “Look! I think I recognize this, we should be nearly back now.”

* * *

 

Nearly back turned out to be a slight over exaggeration, it was nearly another hour by the time they arrived at Sei’s door and they were both cold, tired, and extremely grouchy. Mizuki’s hand was stiff and numb as he raised his hand to knock, praying to every deity he knew that it would be Aoba or Ren who answered and not Tae-san, who would be less than pleased at their late arrival.

“Finally, I was beginning to think you’d kidnapped him.” The familiar voice spoke as the door swung open, revealing Aoba dressed in white and blue pajamas and with his hands on his hips, reminiscent of his Grandma’s favored pose. “Care to explain why it’s… Three hours later than you promised to have him back?”

“Mizuki tripped-“

“We got lost!”

They both opened their mouth’s to explain at once, and Aoba looked visibly taken aback, snorting with laughter a second later and not stopping til Sei hit him in the arm with an offended expression. “Sorry, sorry! Just, it doesn't sound like it went very well.”

“It could have been worse!” Mizuki objected.

“How?”

“Um…” Mizuki honestly had no idea how it could have gone worse, minus actual death or some type of natural disaster, by all accounts it had been a horrendous first date, and Mizuki knew most people wouldn't request a second having experienced the trauma they’d been through.

“Exactly,” Aoba remarked, tone far too pleased for Mizuki to be anything but annoyed. “Come on, Sei. It’s freezing out here, plus it’s late.”

“Yeah, night, Mizu.” Sei smiled shyly, waving his goodbye and stepping into the house in front of his insistent brother, who seemed genuinely disappointed in Mizuki for bringing him back so late, even though technically it had been Sei’s fault.

* * *

 

He was glum as he turned around to walk the fifteen minute slog to his bar and apartment, shoulders hunched and head hanging, kicking a rock along the gravel road mournfully. He’d been terrified and excited for today since he’d finally managed to build up the courage to ask Sei, and had received a yes. But now he was scared he’d ruined everything, he knew full well that after a date like that, he wouldn't be keen to potentially repeat it. All in all, the day had been a bust, and he just wanted to go home and crawl into bed and pretend it had never happened. The sound of footsteps behind him put him on alert, knowing Midorijima could be a dangerous place late at night, fingers travelling to the butterfly knife in his pocket.

“Mizuki!” The voice was breathy and tired, but the soft voice was incredibly familiar and he lowered his guard, turning to see Sei, face flushed from the short run and black hair slightly messy where the wind had blown it into disarray. “You- You forgot your hoodie.”

Mizuki just stared at him, God he was beautiful, pink lips parted as he spoke, eyebrows furrowing into a look of concern as the bartender just looked at him like a moron, snapping out of it with an alarmed expression as Sei lightly touched his arm.

“Mizuki? I said you forgot your hoodie..”

“Oh! Yeah! I totally forgot.” Mizuki stammered as he took the jacket from Sei, sliding it onto his shoulders and immediately relishing in the protection it granted him from the cold wind. “Thanks.”

Sei just smiled, head tilted to one side as if he was thinking, seemingly not noticing the tattooists hands squirming nervously at his sides, wanting to look away in shame at having fucked up their first date so much.

“Mizu?” Sei’s voice was almost shy, prompting the addressed to look up, surprised to see a blush spreading across his pale cheeks. “I know today didn't exactly go to plan,”

They were both able to share a smile at this, Mizuki full on snorting in derision even as Sei’s smile turned fond. “But I had fun anyway.”

The world seemed to stop for a moment as Sei stepped forwards, stretching onto tiptoes, one hand resting on Mizuki’s bicep and his lips coming to gently brush his cheek. Everything returned in a whirl, Sei’s adorable giggle, the icy wind, the flickering street light, as Mizuki just stared at him, taken aback and utterly stunned.

“I should be getting in, I had to practically beg Aoba to let me bring you that.” Sei’s eyes were as warm as his lips and Mizuki practically melted inside, words still failing him as Sei waved and turned, almost at his door when Mizuki regained his ability to converse.

“I-I’ll call you!” He yelled, uncaring of the late hour or of Aoba stood in the doorway, arms crossed and looking ready to lecture Sei. Neither of the twins replied, but he heard Aoba calling him a dork, and, whether imagined or not, saw the embarrassed blush on Sei’s cheek as he smacked his brother’s arm. He knew he was smiling like a goof as Sei paused to wave goodbye before finally closing the door behind him, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and trying to dim the grin that spread wide on his face.

Maybe they still had a chance, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- minky-way.tumblr.com


	3. Kissing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gang members and interfering brothers, not exactly what Mizuki had planned for their date

It had been an amazing day, a long, tiring day for both of them. Mizuki’s plans hadn’t exactly gone without a hitch, but after a rather alarming flee from a group of Scratch members after accidentally wandering onto their turf, it had gone pleasingly. Mizuki had learned that when Sei drank hot chocolate he liked to run his fingers through the cream and lick it off his finger, rather than using a spoon like most people. Mizuki also learnt that Sei did not like strong coffee, he had a feeling the disgusted and almost betrayed look on his face would linger in his mind for a while. Mizuki had walked Sei home, careful to avoid any dangerous areas, stopping outside Tae and Aoba’s house to say goodbye and arrange to do something again, soon preferably.

“I had fun today.” Sei chirruped, hands behind his back cutely as he smiled up at Mizuki like a pleased child.

“Me too,” Mizuki grinned back. “Apart from all the running away, sorry about that.”

Sei laughed, a tinkling, almost musical sound, “it’s okay, my doctor says I need more exercise anyway.”

Mizuki doubted that was what he’d had in mind, but laughed all the same, checking the time on his watch quickly. “It’s late, you should get in before they start to worry.”

“Mm.” Sei nodded, stepping forwards for his usual goodbye hug, which Mizuki initiated happily. This was probably the best part of the date for him, getting to hold Sei close, smelling his hair, apple as usual, and feeling how fragile he was in his arms. Neither of them seemed willing to let go this time, stood incredibly close, arms wrapped around each other and squeezing tightly. Mizuki’s brain had obviously short circuited when he withdrew slightly, leaning down and pressing a short, closed-lip kiss onto the unsuspecting ravenette. He immediately registered what he had done and pulled back, about to apologise, wondering if that had been too soon. He almost had a heart attack however, when Sei pulled him back with a shy smile and connected their lips again, pecking a few times nervously.

Mizuki made a small noise of surprise and Sei giggled, covering his mouth with his hands before resting them back on broad leather-clad shoulders. Emboldened by Sei’s acceptance, Mizuki used a calloused hand to tilt his chin up, scanning his eyes for any sign of refusal before leaning back in. Sei’s lips were parted this time as they overlapped, moving together clumsily as Sei’s arms slid round Mizuki’s neck, fingers playing with the short hairs on his nape. Mizuki knew this was Sei’s first kiss, and hadn’t expected it to go this well, or last this long, hell, he even seemed to know what to do. They met and parted again and again, sharing soft breaths and tasting the other, hands gentle on shoulders, cheeks, necks, hips.

“You know, if you keep molesting my brother I might have to kill you.” The teasing voice spoke up from the door, which neither of them had noticed opening, Aoba leaning on the frame with an amused smirk and crossed arms.Mizuki immediately pulled away guiltily, chuckling weakly and rubbing the back of his neck with an almost sheepish smile. Sei meanwhile had gone bright red, lips curved into the sort of smile that doesn’t seem to want to be hidden as he tried to hide behind his bangs.

Incredibly aware of Aoba’s amber eyes watching, Mizuki pressed a final peck to Sei’s temple, almost daring the bluenette to say something.

“I’ll text you, kay?” He asked, blush building on his cheeks as Sei’s dark eyes met his, soon averting cutely in embarrassment.  
“Okay. Bye, Mizuki.”

“Bye Sei, Aoba.” The darker twin got a warm smile, while Aoba got a firm nod before Mizuki turned and walked away, smiling to himself quietly and leaving Sei to deal with his brother.

The ravenette turned with a nervous smile to his brother, trying to hide the beam threatening to show on his face as Aoba raised a blue eyebrow, wringing his fingers nervously.

“Oh calm down, I’m not going to yell at you or something.” Sure, Aoba wasn’t entirely sure he was comfortable with his brother dating Mizuki. They were technically exes, or rather his other personality Sly Blue used to have a a bit of a thing with him. But he seemed to act differently with Sei, and Aoba supposed if Sei was happy, he could be too. “Do you like him?”

Sei was surprised, that was obvious as his dark eyes widened, fresh blush spreading on his cheeks as he lowered his eyes, nodding. “Yeah, I really like him.”

Aoba just sighed quietly, watching the leather clad back dissapear into the dark with a strange feeling in his chest he wasn’t entirely sure came from him. Mirroring Mizuki’s earlier action, he pressed a kiss to Sei’s forehead. “Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- minky-way.tumblr.com


	4. Doing something Ridiculous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say when you can't sleep it's because someone's thinking about you, though the staring eyes of 100 stuffed animals might have something to do with it too

“Sei, you’re going to fall.”

The reply was muffled, whether because Sei had a faceful of dust or whether because he was currently half in and half out of the opening to his attic, Mizuki wasn’t sure.

“What?” He asked after silence had pervaded for a while longer, just reassured the legs he could see were still moving.

“I said I’m fine. You’re still holding the ladder right?”

“Yes.” He replied, wondering just how he’d been talked into spending Sunday, his only day off, sorting out his attic so Sei could fill it with his huge collection of cuddly animals.

“Then I’ll be okay, oh! I’ve found the light switch!” The voice that carried down was far too enthusiastic for Mizuki’s liking, making his already sore head pound.

“Oh good.” He muttered sarcastically, starting in alarm as the skinny legs disappeared but relaxing a second later as a dusty head popped out of the opening in the ceiling with a beam.

“You coming up?”

Mizuki grumbled to himself quietly, but decided it would be easier with two of them, climbing the ladder easily and clambering into the attic, which was filthy. “It’s disgusting up here.”

“Well yeah! That’s why we’re going to sort it out and make it really nice so I can put all my stuff in here.” Sei was clutching a feather duster, but Mizuki thought something more heavy duty might be better.

“I did say there was room in the bedroom.” He tried to reason, remembering his horror as box upon box of stuffed animals was placed on the floor of his living room. “On top of the wardrobes.”

Sei’s face scrunched up, pout very cute on his pale face, making Mizuki’s bad mood fade away slightly. “Yeah, but do you really want all those eyes watching us when we.. do stuff?”

This was both an excellent point and a bit of an incentive for Mizuki to help. Sei had only moved in recently, and they were yet to ‘do stuff’, as he had put it, Sei not feeling ready yet and Mizuki more than happy to take it slow. So the knowledge Sei wanted to ‘do stuff’ made Mizuki feel light headed and more than a little warm as his brain went into overdrive with images far too racy for a Sunday.

“Not really.” He eventually remarked, upon realising he had been quiet slightly too long and Sei was beginning to look concerned.

“Exactly. So we can get this cleared out, and put them all in here instead.” As Sei’s grin widened Mizuki wondered if he had planned his seemingly accidental suggestion beforehand to get him on his side. However he soon decided he didn’t care, having that many eyes just watching him sleep was creepy enough now that he thought of it.  
“Should we box stuff up first?” Mizuki asked, deciding to at least appear willing, despite his urge to crawl back into bed or eat a huge take-away. Maybe even both.  
“Mm.” Sei agreed, racing into action with his usual enthusiasm and beginning to sort through Mizuki’s forgotten possessions with manic energy.

Photo albums, old school books, half a bicycle, bits of miscellaneous machinery Mizuki had no memory of and two trunks of his old baby stuff later, they were both filthy, tired and hungry. It was a bigger task than either of them had anticipated, and Mizuki was feeling less and less willing to cooperate. It was cold up there, neither of them had thought to bring a jacket and the dust was making Sei sneeze.

“This can’t be good for your lungs, we should stop for today.” Mizuki said, less a suggestion and more an order as Sei gave a hacking cough that shook his whole frame.

Despite his obvious reluctance, Sei nodded dejectedly, taking one final look round the room before heading towards the ladder. “You go first?” He asked, wanting Mizuki to hold the ladder steady when he climbed down, and be waiting just in case he slipped.

Mizuki nodded, giving a grateful sigh and heading to the ladder which was balanced precariously against the opening of the attic. Too precariously it seemed, as he turned to put his foot on the first rung, the entire ladder suddenly disappearing with a crash and leaving his foot with nothing to land on. After some alarmed yells from Sei and some painful arm tugging, Mizuki was safely back in the attic, lying on his side and trying to pretend he hadn’t just nearly died. Once he had recovered and Sei had stopped hyperventilating, he sat up, staring at the long drop down to the floor of his apartment.

“Now what?” Sei asked, joining Mizuki by the opening. “Could you climb down?”  
“Not without breaking an ankle. Or two.” Mizuki answered, knowing even if he lowered himself, he’d still be several feet above the ground, and would undoubtedly land on the ladder that lay uselessly on the floor.

They stood in silence for a few minutes, Sei looking worried and Mizuki getting more and more annoyed with the entire situation.

“I know!” Sei piped up a minute later, rooting through his pockets til he found his coil. “I’ll ring Aoba! The door’s unlocked right?”

Mizuki’s face broke into a beam and he swept Sei into a hug, small boys feet leaving the ground as he swung him round, planting a grateful kiss on his head. “Oh my god you’re amazing! Yeah, he can just put the ladder back.”

Sei giggled quietly, pink flush spreading up his cheeks as he dialled the number, other line picking up almost immediately.

“Hello?”

“Aoba! It’s Sei.”

“Hey Sei, what’s up?”

“Um, me and Mizuki are in the attic and the ladder fell down and we can’t get out.”

“..What?”

“Ugh, I said me and Mizuki were cleaning the attic, but the ladder fell down and we’re stuck. Can you come let us out.”

There was silence for a minute, then guffaws of uncontrolled laughter came down the line at them, Aoba seemingly finding their distress hysterical. When he finally controlled himself, his breathing was erratic, “oh, I have to tell Noiz about this.”  
Any patience having disappeared long ago, Mizuki took the coil from Aoba, glaring at it despite the bluenettes inability to see him. “Listen, if you don’t come to help us I’ll tell Sei about that time you got so drunk you stood on my bar and sang ‘my heart will go on’ at the top of your lungs in just your boxers.”

There was silence as Sei covered his mouth with his hands, eyes wide in amused shock.

“But you just did.” The laughter in Aoba’s voice was gone by now, Mizuki could almost hear the pout.

“I’ve got plenty more stories just like that one, if you don’t come I’ll tell him them all.”

There was another tense silence in which Sei struggled to hide a grin, “fine, I’ll be there in ten.”

Then Aoba hung up, leaving them in silence but the buzzing of the empty line.  
“I guess we just have to wait then.” Sei remarked a minute later, perching atop an old wooden trunk with a bored expression.

“Yeah.” Mizuki replied, wondering just how his Sunday had gone so downhill so fast and deciding he deserved a take-away tonight after this horrific experience.

 

* * *

 

 

When Aoba did finally arrive, half an hour later, it took twenty minutes for him to stop laughing and taking photos and actually help them out, meaning they had been trapped there for nearly an hour.

“What were you doing up there anyway?” Aoba asked, eyes disbelieving as he examined their dirty state.

“We were cleaning it out so Sei could put his cuddly animals up there instead of in the bedroom.” Mizuki explained quickly, unaware of the murderous looks Sei was shooting his twin from behind his back.

“Why?"

“Because having that many eyes watch us sleep is creepy.” He replied, realising the second he said it how childish that sounded.

Aoba clearly felt the same, because his face contorted into a grin and he failed to suppress his laughter once more, cackling madly despite Sei whacking him on the head, hard, just holding his injury and crying with mirth. “Oh my god, you two are ridiculous!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- minky-way.tumblr.com


	5. Cuddling Somewhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange, how events repeat themselves but in completely different situations

 

When Oval Tower collapsed, Aoba was nowhere to be found. A mysterious coil message had appeared some hours earlier telling Mizuki to get to Platinum Jail now and find someone for him. Of course Mizuki’s team members had told him something major was going on in Midorijima already, so Aobas message and his sudden realisation of the bluenettes location gave him little choice.

It was chaos when he arrived, pure chaos. People ran every which way, a loud alarm was shrieking through the usually serene environment and there were flashing lights everywhere he looked. Oval Tower loomed over it all, dominating the skyline and blocking out the light of the moon. He knew that was where he had to go, Aoba had even provided a map for him so he could easily find the mystery prisoner. The security guards of the building, a mixture of Alpha’s and the occasional actual human were too occupied with trying to calm, peacefully or not, the scared civilians. He easily slipped through a side door, screaming alarm immediately making his eardrums throb and flashing red emergency lights making him squint as he headed for the stairs. The elevator would definitely be quicker, but even he was sensible to know not to use one in an emergency like this.

The jog up the twelve flights barely tired him, years of gang activity and breaking up bar fights having apparently kept him in good shape. This corridor was different, it was larger and grander, a huge red door stood at one end, but Aoba’s directions had led him elsewhere, so he swallowed his curiosity and turned his back to it. He found the door he wanted soon enough, it blended in to the rest of the hallways clinical white walls, intricately carved with swirls and curlicues. Mizuki had no idea what he’d find when he opened the door, Aoba had warned he could be very weak, and might even need carrying. But if Aoba needed a favour, Mizuki wouldn’t say no, especially after what he’d done to Tae-san and everything else he’d put the bluenette and his family through.

 

* * *

 

 

 

He was light, so painfully light in his arms as he carried him carefully down the stairs, chunks of plaster beginning to chip off the walls and the siren still blaring. The only sounds from the pale boy were light whimpers as he planted his hands firmly over his ears, eyes shut tight as he was led away by the stranger.

Mizuki hadn’t known where to go, nobody was answering their coils, and with Oval Tower collapsing behind him, he figured it was best not to linger, retracing his footsteps back to his apartment.

He’d tried to coax a name out of the shaking boy, offering him warm smiles and when they failed, food, drink and warm blankets. The large black eyes were full of terror as he went to leave the room, hand gripping his t-shirt instinctively, almost silently pleading him not to go. He sighed and rubbed his head, wondering just how Aoba thought he would manage the clearly damaged boy who was curled up on his sofa. He looked so sad, and so scared that Mizuki felt a pain in his chest whenever he looked at him. Sitting heavily on the sofa next to him, thoroughly exhausted by the events of the day and really wanting to go to sleep. He was surprised when the bony figure crept nearer, cold fingers gripping into his t-shirt and body almost snuggling into him. His breaths were erratic and shallow and Mizuki could still feel his trembling, he reminded him of a scared animal. His last thought before wrapping an arm round the strange boy and slipping off to sleep was wondering just who this boy was, and why Aoba wanted him saving.

 

* * *

 

 

“Mizu,” spoke a quiet voice from under his chin, making him look down and be faced with a noseful of apple scented black hair.

“Mm?” He asked, adjusting his arms around the smaller boy so he could see his face better.

There was a pause, almost as if Sei was wondering how to word something, “do you know who rescued me from Oval Tower?”

His breath caught in his throat, of course he wouldn’t remember. Their next meeting had been months after Mizuki had saved him and Sei had acted as if he was an entirely new person, despite them having met before. “Don’t you remember, babe?”

A pause, then the black head shook. The tattooist smiled softly, thumb rubbing circles into the exposed slice of Sei’s stomach where his t-shirt had ridden up. “You were very weak. You were attached to all these machines and drips. I thought you were in a coma at first.”

Sei had gone stiff beneath his arm, and he could sense eyes on him, but he continued speaking. It had weighed on his mind a long time, and he finally wanted Sei to know how much he never wanted to see him like that again.  
“You were tiny, like a doll, so easy- too easy to carry. And you were so scared. You were shaking and you kept whimpering, I didn’t know what to do.” Mizuki paused, feeling Sei shift beside him and tightening his arms round him. “So I brought you here. You just curled up on the sofa and rocked.”

Sei’s eyes were wide, it was strange, being told about events he had no memory of, but were beginning to slowly form in his head, incredibly blurry and with gaping holes, but there nonetheless.

“I tried to leave but you gripped onto me and wouldn’t let go, you clung onto me like a monkey.” Mizuki’s smile was fonder now as he poked at Sei’s arm where it was curled around his middle, just as it had been back then.

“You were warm.” Sei could remember that, he hadn’t wanted the warmth to leave. It was the first time in years he’d had human contact and his chilled body craved it, feeling heat flood through his bones. “Thank you. For saving me.”

“The pleasure was all mine.” Mizuki said, planting a kiss on Sei’s head and wondering just how different his life would be if he hadn’t saved the black haired beauty currently cuddled up to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- minky-way.tumblr.com  
> 


	6. Arguing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arguments bring out the worst in people

They weren’t a couple that argued a lot, but when they did it was bad.  
There were tears, courtesy of Sei, and things were broken, punched and thrown, the work of an irate Mizuki.

They loved each other, they both knew that, but sometimes the stress of running a bar, tattoo parlour and rib team, as well as looking after an ill Sei, grew too much for the tanned man and he would snap. What was even worse is that he knew Sei couldn’t help it, he hadn’t asked for such a weak body, he hadn’t asked to be confined to bed for days and to have to rely on Mizuki for everything, but those were the cards fate had dealt him. Mizuki knew it wasn’t fair of him to get angry, it just put more strain on Sei’s already tired body and exhausted both of them more.

When they argued Sei would cry, apologising for being such a burden and withdrawing into his shell, wincing and whimpering at every irrational, unreasonable cruel thing that left Mizuki’s mouth. He would retreat into a corner, curled into a ball or flattened against the wall and watch with wide, scared eyes as Mizuki ranted and raved, punching walls and knocking things over.

Mizuki could remember their last argument with crystal clear clarity, it had been Aoba’s fault technically, or that was Mizuki’s excuse anyway. He had brought up Sly Blue, his sadistic alter-ego, in casual conversation, whether he’d been making his presence known more lately or what, Mizuki didn’t know. But of course, Mizuki didn’t much like hearing about the yellow eyed bluenette who had used his affections to extort him. He promptly told an oblivious Aoba to shut the fuck up, something he felt was reasonable enough, but apparently both Sei and Aoba didn’t think so. Sei had demanded he apologise, and that had been it for the tattooed rib leader, who told Sei he wouldn’t and then proceeded to rant at Aoba about bringing it up. Slagging off not only his other personality, but also him for harbouring Sly, though he couldn’t help it.

 

* * *

 

 

“It’s not my fault he didn’t love you back!” Aoba yelled, all sense gone as he defended himself. The look of alarm Sei shot him and the stuttered, choked breath that left Mizuki made him realise what he’d said and he hastily backpedalled. “Shit, I didn’t mean that Mizuki.”

“Get out.” Mizuki demanded, eyes hard and voice quavering.

“Mizu!” Sei objected weakly, giving Aoba an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry, Mizuki, I didn’t mea-“

“Get. Out.” He repeated, stalking towards Aoba almost threateningly and forcing the bluenette to take a few steps backwards.

Aoba looked between him and Sei, searching for some kind of sign but clearly not getting it as his fists clenched and his brother shook his head.

“Fine.” Aoba spat, all too familiar yellow creeping into his amber eyes. He flung the door open, turning to send a glare at Mizuki. “Fuck you Mizuki.”

The door slammed, leaving a fuming Mizuki for Sei to deal with. There was silence for a minute as Mizuki just paced back and forwards angrily, then it was shattered as he unleashed a brutal kick at the door, foot thudding loudly against the wood.

“Fucking dickhead!” He growled, running a hand through his short hair in frustration. He turned round to see Sei’s wide, scared eyes staring at him. “What?”

Sei just averted his gaze and shook his head quickly, trying to blend into the surroundings so he wouldn’t be the target of Mizuki’s anger.

“Don’t look at me like that. You know he was out of line.”

“You overreacted.” Sei mumbled quietly, just wanting the argument to be over already.

Mizuki’s eyes widened in disbelief and he made an ugly scoffing noise. “He should have known better than to bring that bastard up in front of me. I hate that fucker.”

They both knew that wasn’t true, Sly might have hurt Mizuki hugely, but he still had mixed feelings for him, as was obvious whenever he was discussed.

“No you don’t.” Sei sighed, sick of having to tell people how they felt, denial was honestly such a pain to deal with. “You loved him, you probably still do.”

The bartender had stopped his pacing by now and was staring at Sei in disbelief, fists clenching and unclenching by his sides. Sei knew Mizuki would never hit him, he’d never so much as raised a hand to him, no matter how angry he might get, preferring to destroy the apartment instead, but still Sei found himself feeling nervous.

“Could you sound more jealous?” Mizuki practically spat and Sei gave a shocked gasp. That was a low blow, and they both knew it, hurt tears pooled in the ravenettes eyes and Mizuki’s angry glare faltered for a second. It usually took a lot for Sei to get mad, but that comment had been the last straw, nobody yelled at his brother then had the nerve to call him jealous.

He stood from the sofa, skinny arms shaking indignantly. “How dare you call me jealous.” His voice was wavering but filled with as much malice as he could muster as he stalked over to Mizuki.

“Well you are.” He replied and now it was Sei’s turn to scoff, usually pleasant features contorted with anger and hurt.

“You’re so fucking stupid!” He cried, pushing Mizuki’s shoulders with little success, the bartender barely moving even as he put all his strength into the shove, stepping backwards a second later with cold eyes.

“I’m not the one who’s jealous of someone I was fucking years ago.” The entire argument had got out of hand, they were both using the others weaknesses against them, it was a dirty way to fight, but Sei was determined to give as good as he got.

“I’m sorry he didn’t love you back.” He said truthfully, anger still controlling him as he gently gripping Mizuki’s arm. “But maybe you shouldn’t have been stupid enough to fall for someone who obviously wasn’t capable of love.”

When he heard the words out loud, they sounded way harsher than they had in his head and he reflexively flinched when Mizuki turned to face him, olive eyes full of pain.

“I have to go to work.” He snapped, brushing Sei off roughly before grabbing his jacket from the hat stand, knocking it over in the process and slamming the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- minky-way.tumblr.com


	7. Making Up Afterwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drunk words, sober thoughts. With the dawn comes the truth

The door to the apartment swung open earlier than Sei had expected, a glance at the clock telling him it was barely midnight and Mizuki should be working for two hours yet. He almost hoped it was Aoba instead, he wasn’t sure he felt well enough to try and console him when he obviously wanted to be left alone.

“Sorry Sei, he’s in no state to work.” The voice belonged to one of the three bartenders hired to help out downstairs. He carried a seemingly paralytic Mizuki over one shoulder, the tanned bar owner barely reacting as he was placed not particularly gently onto the sofa, head lolling to one side as he groaned quietly. “You gunna be okay with him?”

Sei sighed quietly but nodded, offering the man a weak smile. “Yeah I’ll be fine. Sorry he’s like this.”

“It’s not your fault. I’ll keep a better eye on him from now on.” He shrugged, giving Sei one more concerned look and waving goodbye, receiving a half hearted wave in response before heading downstairs and back to the heaving bar to finish the shift one man short.

Sei had no sympathy for Mizuki, he’d gotten himself in this state, and if Sei was a less kind person, he’d go to bed and just leave him lying there. But unfortunately the ravenette had more heart than that, going into the kitchen to retrieve the washing up bowl, in case of sick, and a large glass of water.

“Drink.” He thrust the glass at the intoxicated man, keeping his voice emotionless, though he was sure a small amount of pity seeped in. Mizuki opened one bleary eye, and somehow managed to grip the glass, barely drinking a mouthful before his stomach heaved and he lurched forwards. Sei only just managed to get the bowl in front in him in time, sick splattering into it in a way that made the ravenettes nose wrinkle.

He didn’t offer any comfort, no rubbing his back or muttering reassuring words. Mizuki didn’t deserve that right now and Sei certainly wasn’t in the mood to forgive him for his earlier anger. Instead he held the bowl in place until it seemed Mizuki was done, dumping it on the coffee table, deciding to let his boyfriend deal with it tomorrow as punishment.

Or he was going to, but a whiff of the disgusting vomit made Sei’s stomach churn and he stood from the floor to take the bowl to the bathroom to empty down the toilet. That was the plan, but an arm grasped his wrist, causing the sick in the bowl to slop from side to side and nearly spill onto the floor.

“Don’t leave me.” Mizuki groaned weakly, voice slurred and pathetic.

Sei shook his wrist free easily, Mizuki’s weak limb flopping down to land on his lap. “I’m just going to the bathroom.”

“Don’t go-“ Mizuki’s voice was weak and his arm searched the air for Sei feebly, the black haired boy easily avoiding the limb.

“Stop it Mizuki, you’re being childish.” Sei spat, annoyed at having to be the one who dealt with Mizuki’s tirades. Ignoring his slurred requests to stay, Sei walked to the bathroom, holding his nose as he emptied the sick into the toilet and flushed it, trying to control his growing nausea.

He took a minute to gather himself, calming his nerves and taking a few deep breaths, preparing himself to be patient with the intoxicated man who was sprawled on their sofa before stepping back into the living room.

“M-Mizuki?” He stammered, dark eyes widening in concern as he saw the tears trickling down tanned cheeks. The tattooist just sniffed pathetically and held his arms out, and despite the fact that Sei was still annoyed with him, he couldn’t help but feel for him. Mizuki rarely cried, in fact, this was probably only the second time he’d seen tears other than the tattooed variety on his face. With an exasperated sigh he sat on the sofa next to his idiotic boyfriend and let himself be engulfed in his arms. “What’s wrong? Hm?”

Mizuki sniffled for a while longer, arms tight around Sei as if he was afraid he’d slip away. “Don’t leave me.”

Sei raised an eyebrow, this again? “I’m not going anywhere. Why would I leave?” He ran a hand through burgundy hair, trying to ignore the faint smell of sick that lingered on Mizuki’s breath.

“He left.” Came the answer a few minutes later, bitterness clear in his voice. The man he spoke of didn’t need to be named, both knew who it was immediately. Sei sighed quietly, holding Mizuki tighter still. Sly really had done a number on him and Sei hated him for it. “You will too.”

Sei felt himself bristle at this, even though he knew Mizuki was drunk and talking rubbish, it still hurt that he thought Sei would leave.  
“Why would I leave? Why do you think I would do that?” Sei’s voice was rising again and he forced himself to calm down, reminding himself Mizuki was not acting like himself.

More sniffles, Mizuki’s nose nuzzling into Sei’s shoulder. “Because I get angry, and break things.”

It wasn’t the breaking things Sei minded, they could be repaired or replaced. “You scare me when you’re like that.” He admitted, not wanting Mizuki to feel guilty but knowing he needed to hear this.

“I know. I’m sorry.” His tone was like that of a scolded child, ashamed and guilty and Sei felt himself mellowing.

He sighed, planting a kiss on Mizuki’s head and standing from the sofa, untangling himself from twisted limbs. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

That was complete crap of course, Mizuki would have a horrific hangover in the morning and would probably be racked with guilt. But the tattooist nodded anyway and let himself be led to their bedroom, undressing to his boxers with Sei’s help and snuggling into the bed, looking small and guilty. Sei climbed in beside him a second later, deciding it was best to stay near when he was in this state.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled again, earning a sigh from Sei.

“Go to bed Mizu, we can talk in the morning.” The dark haired boy was tired by now, the events of the day had exhausted him and all he wanted was to go to bed and wake up with Mizuki acting like himself again. He didn’t complain as arms wound round his waist, a nose pressed into his shoulder as Mizuki spoke against his skin.

“Sometimes I just.. don’t want to bother anymore.” Sei knew what he meant, “I just want to give up.”

Sorrow shot into his chest and he turned to face Mizuki, brushing hair out of his eyes and giving him a small smile, “I know, I know.” He’d felt the same so many times, when he was imprisoned by Toue, all the times he’d been in the hospital, he’d just wanted everything to stop. “It’s late, we should go to sleep.”

“Will you be here when I wake up?” Olive green eyes were scared.

“Of course I will, I’m not going anywhere. Never.” Sei knew why he had asked, Aoba had told him once that Sly never stayed all night, leaving Mizuki to wake up alone and full of regret.

Reassured, Mizuki’s eyes closed, leaving Sei to watch him with sadness in his dark eyes.

“I’m sorry he hurt you.” He whispered, holding him tighter before closing his own eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

“Ugggh.” Mizuki’s head was pounding and his stomach was churning. “Sei? What happened?”

Hearing his name, Sei rolled his eyes and walked into the room, holding out a glass of water and a packet of painkillers.

“You got drunk at work, Teo carried you up here, you were sick everywhere and you cried. It was quite the show.” Sei’s words might seem harsh and clipped, but there was a hint of amused exasperation in his tone as he watched Mizuki swallow two white pills.

“Ugh,” Mizuki groaned again, this time in embarrassment. “Why was I crying?”

It made sense he wouldn’t remember, he had been stupidly drunk. “Something about me leaving you?”

Mizuki’s hands faltered in their running through his messy hair, olive eyes glancing up at Sei, who had one eyebrow raised questioningly.

“Why would you even think that?” Sei asked, voice pained and eyes questioning. “Do you want me to leave?”

Mizuki raised his head indignantly, clearly regretting the action as he made a low noise of pain and gripped his head. “Of course not, I don’t know what I’d do without you.. but.”

Sei sighed, sitting on the bed beside his stupid boyfriend as he held his spinning head. “But what?”

“I’m just scared.” It was embarrassing to admit and Sei’s eyes showed his surprise. “Everyone always leaves. I want you to stay.”

Tears were building in dark orbs, blinked away furiously but without much success. “You’re a dumb bastard you know that?” Sei didn’t use bad language often, so when he did Mizuki could tell he was really annoyed. Sei’s voice was a mixture of laughter and tears as he pushed Mizuki’s shoulder angrily, eyes overflowing now as he let his emotions take over. “Don’t you think I’m scared too? I think about you leaving everyday. What if you get tired of looking after me? Or find someone better, more fun? Or what if Sly came back, who would you choose?” He tried to wipe his eyes dry furiously with little success, “so don’t you dare say I’d ever leave. I love you Mizuki, and I’m not going anywhere.”

It took Sei a minute to notice Mizuki was crying, silent tears trickling down tanned cheeks. “I’m sorry I scared you. I was angry and you kept saying things I wanted to deny but I couldn’t because you were right.” He took a deep breath, steeling himself to admit the truth, finally. “I do still love him. I don’t know why and I wish I didn’t but I do.”

Sei’s breath caught in his throat and he felt his heart sink, he never thought Mizuki would realise it, but now he had, he was terrified.

“But you see, the difference is, you love me back. You care about me and he never did.” His hands were shaking and his breath was erratic as he spat out the words. “Not once did he ever- I asked him once. If he ever cared. If I meant anything to him.”

Sei already knew what the answer would be and it made him angry, how anyone could be so cruel to someone as amazing and selfless as Mizuki he didn’t know.  
“He laughed.” Mizuki chuckled darkly, wiping his eyes. He didn’t know why this was all coming out now, and in front of Sei of all people, but he needed to get it off his chest. “He said I was a good fuck and that was all.”

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Sei carded a hand through Mizuki’s hair, planting a kiss on his temple and offering him a small, sad smile. “Let’s not talk about him anymore, okay? He’s gone now and he’s never going to hurt you again.”

Mizuki nodded, accepting the hug Sei offered and sniffling as his tears dried up. “Let’s not fight again, okay?”

“Okay.” Sei knew that was a dumb thing to agree to, of course they’d argue again, all couples did, but he knew it would make Mizuki feel better. “I love you, Mizu. You’re so much more than a good fuck to me.”

It was a bizarre way to display his feelings for the bartender, who chuckled wetly in his ear. “But I’m that too right?” Sei pulled away with an exasperated look to meet Mizuki’s smirk.

Rolling his eyes, he couldn’t help but laugh as Mizuki wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Yes Mizuki, you’re that too. No go brush your teeth or I won’t kiss you good morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- minky-way.tumblr.com


	8. During Their Morning Rituals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say the early bird catches the worm, so it's a good thing Sei can't fly

 

Mizuki always woke first, crawling out of bed the minute the alarm began blaring, groaning lowly and rubbing his gunky eyes as he silenced the infernal racket, leaving Sei to sleep longer. Most days he timed his shower, he had a habit of not noticing the passing of time as the water pounded down on his head, and it tended to make him late. However, today was a Saturday, and he opened the tattoo parlour later, so he’d have a good half hour to think as he scrubbed his body clean after his morning workout.

Smiling softly at Sei’s sleeping, and often drooling, face, he’d pull on a pair of sweatpants and pad through his apartment in bare feet, soft carpet caressing his toes. There was something about early mornings he loved, the silence that swept over the usually chaotic island was a nice change from the rest of his life, spent in a noisy bar or with his chattering Rib team. There was a shrine, a good two miles away from his apartment that he used to jog to every morning, though he hadn’t done that in a while, discovering Sei panicked when waking alone. He wasn’t religious, or particularly superstitious, so the shrine itself held no special interest to him, but the view from it was majestic. It was on top of a hill that looked down onto the Old Residents district, dawn air lighting it’s still quiet streets up with a soft orange glow. He’d stand there for maybe ten minutes, catching his breath and watching as the sun rose, illuminating the island which was just beginning to wake up, before jogging back home for a shower.

In lieu of his jog, he’d made his own workout routine which he could complete from the comfort of his living room. Ignoring the clock that read a horrifically early hour for a weekend, he’d stretch himself out, bones cracking and muscles tensing under tanned skin before falling to the ground and beginning a set of fifty push-ups. Sit up’s followed, sometimes up to a hundred of those before he grew too tired, Sei was usually awake by this point, entering the room with a groan of disapproval.

It was strange to anybody who knew them, that it was Mizuki who preferred mornings, seeing as he worked late every night and as a result got little sleep.People always assumed it would be Sei, cheerful, bubbly Sei, who would be the morning person, leaping out of a bed with a smile and a skip as he prepared himself for the new day. But they couldn’t be more wrong, Sei was nearly impossible to drag out of bed, and Mizuki had tried, better being left to wake on his own terms. At first it had been embarrassing, having eyes on him as he exercised, but he’d gradually grown used to it, even enlisting Sei to help hold his ankles as he did sit-ups, as he did this morning.

“Hey babe, hold my ankles would you?” He asked, sitting up from what he’d counted as the thirty-sixth, grinning as Sei flopped off the sofa and sat cross legged in front of him, white hands cold on his legs.

“I don’t get how you have the energy to do this every morning.” Sei asked, not bothering to hide a huge yawn that showed all his white teeth.

Mizuki laughed breathily, arms crossed over his bare torso as he raised himself up to meet his bent knees, pausing at the summit to shoot Sei a wink, “Got to keep myself looking good for you, Princess.” He could practically sense Sei’s rolling eyes even as he lowered himself back down and out of the ravenettes eyeline.

“I don’t get why, I don’t do anything to look good for you.” Sei remarked, eyes lingering on Mizuki’s stomach as it tensed, muscles clearly outlined on caramel flesh.

Mizuki didn’t pause, counting in his head even as he listened to Sei, ’67, 68, 69’.. “That’s cause you’re perfect as you are.”

“Well so are you.” Sei reasoned, watching a droplet of sweat trickle down Mizuki’s toned chest, all the way down past his bellybutton and to the waistband of his sweatpants, swallowing thickly as he averted his eyes with a blush.  
“Mm.” Mizuki answered, ’74, 75, 76’...

Mizuki wasn’t unconfident, or he didn’t like to think so anyway, but he never seemed to be happy with his body, despite Sei’s seeming contentment with it. He just wasn’t built enough, and despite all he did to try and get the shape he craved, it just never seemed to happen. Someone had told him once that people had a default shape that it was incredibly difficult to change, like the fact that Sei was skinny, it was just biological. But a few times Sei had walked into the bathroom to find Mizuki stood in front of the huge wall-sized mirror in just his boxers, staring blankly at his body and poking at his stomach as if at non-existent flab.

Sei had all but given up trying to convince Mizuki he was perfect as he was, and just watched almost sadly as he worked himself to exhaustion and grew more disappointed every day as he stayed the same.

“One hundred!” The bartenders call drew Sei out of his thoughts, leaning forwards willingly for their usual kiss after, Mizuki tasted of sweat and sleep but to Sei it was perfect. “Shower time I think.”

Another difference they had, Mizuki liked showers in the morning, Sei liked baths in the evening, he said it was a waste of the day to spend it soaking when he could be doing more time-limited things like going shopping.

“I’ll make breakfast.” Sei nodded, disappearing into the small kitchen to start preparing something delicious and nutritionally sound with the ingredients he had bought the day before.

 

* * *

 

 

 

They reconvened on the sofa, bowls of rice and mixed vegetable stir fry on the low coffee table in front of them, Mizuki didn’t have a dining table, to Sei’s chagrin, but this sufficed. Sei’s eyes were thick with sleepy dust and kept fluttering shut, it always took him a good few hours to be fully alert, whereas Mizuki’s shower had given him some much needed energy.

The meal was wolfed, bartender realising he was going to be later for work, having spent too much time in the shower despite his timer, which he had ignored. Sei was still eating, having just swallowed a mouthful of strong black coffee, his daily staple and the first of many to be drunk that day, when Mizuki pulled on his jacket.

“I’m off babe, got an appointment in ten.”

Sei nodded, standing with a yawn and slouching over to the doorway where Mizuki hovered, waiting for a proper goodbye.

“Bye Mizu, what time will you be back?” Sei asked, allowing leather clad arms to wrap around him, head buried into a warm neck.

“I’ll try and get away from the bar by midnight, Tio won’t mind if I leave early, but I’ll be back for lunch about half one?” He answered, he knew Tio and the other bartenders wouldn’t mind working without him, he paid his employees generously and let them keep all their tips, so they were always happy to compromise.

“Okay, I’ll make something nice.” Sei smiled, leaning out of Mizuki’s hold to accept a quick kiss, hand cupping a warm tanned cheek. Mizuki used his hands on the small of Sei’s back to pull him closer, deepening their kiss. Sei quickly eased him off though, laughing at the reluctant look on the bartenders face. “Go to work!”

Mizuki pouted deliberately, allowing Sei to reach up and peck him on the cheek before walking off down the corridor to unlock the bar, keeping hold of the soft hand til the last second.

“See you soon babe.” He called as he began bounding down the stairs.  
“Have fun at work.” Sei replied, waiting til Mizuki was gone from sight before practically crawling back into the apartment to flop on the sofa and have a quick nap before he came home again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- minky-way.tumblr.com


	9. In a Different Clothing Style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you have to lose somebody, to find something new

They’d been in town for what felt like hours now, and as much as Mizuki loved talking Sei shopping and spoiling him rotten, it was beginning to wear thin and he was feeling the need to recover with a cigarette and maybe a coffee. He was just about to suggest they go to a nearby cafe for a drink and cake when he realised he’d lost sight of his boyfriend in the large store, clapping a hand to his forehead and groaning. Brilliant, now he’d have to manoeuvre this horrifically densely packed landscape by himself in search of his boyfriend who was probably just trying on the millionth t-shirt that day. But luckily for Mizuki, the store had a half-floor above it dedicated to homeware, and a quick dash up to the stairs and a precarious lean over the balcony led him to the conclusion that Sei was not in the menswear section after all.

* * *

 

“Sei?” His boyfriend audibly jumped as he spoke from behind him, fingers falling from the dress he’d been touching and an almost guilty look on his face as he took in the pinks and purples of the clothes around him. “What you looking at?”

Sei’s face almost screamed panic as he retreated from the rack of dresses and skirts he’d been near, clutching at his elbow nervously with one hand crossed over his body protectively. “Oh, nothing, just…”

The bartender’s eyebrow raised suspiciously, not missing the dark flicker of eyes to a particular dress on the rack and immediately back again, cheeks pink with embarrassment.

“This one?” He asked, ignoring Sei’s small noise of disagreement as he pulled the dress off the rail to examine it closer. It was fairly simple, probably mid-thigh length, unsurprisingly black, cinched in at the middle and with a row of white buttons down the front. The hem was edged with a strip of lace, and when he turned it round he saw that the back was lace too, with a flower pattern. It was nice, so he said so. “It’s pretty.”

“I guess..” Sei replied, though it was obvious he agreed too as he looked at the dress in his boyfriends hand, biting his lip nervously.

“You wanna try it on?” Mizuki asked, turning to face his boyfriend only to be met with a look of disbelief and no small amount of concern.

“It’s a dress.” Sei pointed out, wondering if the bartender had suffered some sort of fall and hit his head, he couldn’t try on a dress.

“So?” Mizuki argued back, figuring that if Sei had been looking at it, he must have liked it, plus it was totally to his taste.

“I’m a boy.”

“And that means you can’t try on a dress?” Now was Mizuki’s turn to look almost irritated, he didn’t care if Sei wanted to wear a dress, or a skirt, or even a fucking bra. If he liked it, and felt comfortable in it, then he should wear it, and fuck society’s views on the matter.

Sei didn’t answer, but he squirmed and looked away, pouting moodily until Mizuki sighed, hooking a finger under his chin and forcing him to meet his eyes.

“Do you like it?” A slightly reluctant nod followed his stern tone. “Do you want to try it on?”

“But Mizuki, it’s… I can’t..” His voice trailed off, eyes running over the dress, he _really_ wanted to try it on, more than he had anything all day, staring at the ground in embarrassment as he answered. “Yeah, I do.”

“Then try it on, nobody’s going to care, Sei. We saw a girl with ears and a tail earlier and nobody said anything.” The girl in question had looked utterly ridiculous, but Japan was known for its bizarre fashion trends, so a man in a dress wouldn’t bother anyone. He wrapped an arm round his boyfriend’s shoulders and gave them a reassuring squeeze. “Okay?”

Sei cracked a small smile and nodded, “okay,” squeaking as Mizuki planted a kiss on his forehead.

“Anything else you liked?” The tattooist asked, pulling away to look at the clothes around them uncertainly, fully aware he knew nothing about women’s clothing other than the very basics. “What about the galaxy stuff?”

Mizuki pointed to a display of space patterned clothes, from knee length socks, to suspenders and sweatshirts. They were in all different colours, reds, purples, greens, every shade imaginable showing constellations and red giants and supernovas.

“It’s pretty cool.”

Mizuki rolled his eyes, clearly Sei wasn’t as cool with this as he was, remembering to remain patient as he essentially steered his significant other across the shop floor to look at the display. It took a lot of poking and prodding to get Sei actually actively looking at the clothes themselves, brushing through them in search of a particular colour or style only to twist his face up and return to the one item he’d been fingering in bursts for a while.

“I like this one.” He murmured, so quiet Mizuki barely even heard, having to ask for clarification. “Um, this one, it’s nice.”

“That’s one of the ones where it’s longer at the back, right?”

“Asymmetrical, yeah.” Sei nodded, fingers stroking the flowing material of the skirt, which seemed to be a blue galaxy themed tube skirt with sheer material of the same pattern over the top.

The skirt went into the basket along with the dress and a couple of boys t-shirts that had been in there previously, and were soon joined by a red and orange galaxy sweatshirt that Mizuki had actually suggested. Sei finally admitted he was getting tired, and Mizuki agreed, deciding to head to the changing rooms then pay for whatever Sei wanted and head home.

* * *

 

Luckily for Sei, who was white as a sheet with nervousness by now, the shop was not one with a changing room attendant, so there was nobody to see him taking in the dress and skirt to try on.

“Want me to come in with you?” Mizuki asked, he normally sat on one of the stools and Sei came out after each outfit change to show him, but today was slightly different, so he asked permission first, figuring Sei might not be too keen to let him see his new fashion choices straight away.

“It’s okay, you want a cigarette right?” He replied, though his smile was too tight and Mizuki could tell he was nervous, adjusting his grip on the basket nervously and twisting the spiked ring on his finger so it dug into his flesh.

“Mm, meet you by the checkout?” Mizuki waited for Sei to nod his agreement, almost letting him walk away before catching him by his elbow. “You know.. I don’t care what you wear, I love you whatever.”

Sei’s eyes widened in surprise for a second, then some of the tension left his shoulders and he smiled, grip on the basket loosening as he stood on tiptoes to kiss his boyfriends cheek. “I know.”

“So relax,” Mizuki urged, giving Sei’s cheek a quick caress before waving his goodbye and heading out of the shopping mall to have a much needed cigarette, hoping Sei wouldn't get too worked up over this.

* * *

 

When they arrived home nearly an hour later after a quick drink at a coffee shop, it was with two bags, one containing the dress and skirt, and the other with the sweatshirt and a plain black t-shirt inside. Sei, as always implored Mizuki not to spend so much money on him, but his boyfriend just brushed him off as usual, reminding him he could easily afford it and liked to spoil him. Usually when they got in, Sei would be in a hurry to unpack his new things and look at them again, before putting them away in his sleeve-length organized wardrobe, but he just placed the bags on their bed and went to check his coil, which as usual, he’d forgotten to bring.

“Oh, I've got a message from Aoba.”

“What’s it say?” Mizuki asked, removing his own purchase, a plain black hoodie from its bag and cutting out the tags with a pair of kitchen scissors.

Sei opened the message, reading it aloud, “hey Sei! You’re not answering your coil but then you never do. Me and Noiz are really bored so we’re going to head round later. Let us know when you’re back.” He frowned, “I answer my coil sometimes.”

“Barely,” Mizuki replied, though he shot Sei an apologetic look a moment later as he frowned at him. “You wanna tell them we’re back then? We don’t have anything planned, do we?”

Sei shook his head, “I might just take a shower first.”

Mizuki paused, head tilted in confusion, "didn't you have one this morning?"

"Yeah, but I got hot trying all the clothes on." It was a strange excuse to use, and Sei knew Mizuki was slightly suspicious, but luckily the bartender assumed he just wanted some space, and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll message them to set off in twenty.”

Sei nodded his agreement before heading to their bathroom to take a shower. The most awesome thing about Mizuki’s apartment was that it had a stupidly modern bathroom, there were built in speakers and the songs could be changed with a waterproof remote that sat on a shelf in the huge circular shower enclosure. He turned on his favorite CD, a blend of anime soundtracks and dance tracks, and stripped naked, turning on the shower and watching as warm water rained down from the ceiling onto him.

* * *

 

He could hear voices when he finally stopped the water and stepped out nearly half an hour later, getting dressed into plain jeans and a black sweatshirt that had the words ‘feed me pizza’, emblazoned across it before walking into the living room to claim his usual spot on the sofa across from the one Noiz and Aoba occupied”

“Good choice of sweatshirt,” was Noiz’s opening remark. “Mizuki just went to order some.”

“Good, I’m starving.” His twin remarked, grin fading into a frown a second later as he regarded Sei’s slightly damp hair. “Your hair’s longer.”

“Oh, is it? I hadn't noticed..” He replied, twisting one lock round his finger absently, wondering if it would be long enough to tie up yet, it would be helpful for summer. “Anyway, what did you guys do today?”

“Nothing, it was _so_ boring.” Aoba complained, acting as childishly as always as he sprawled across his mildly disgruntled looking boyfriends lap. “We went for a walk and Noiz almost got beaten up by Koujaku.”

“Hey, we both know I would have won against that old man.” Noiz argued, flexing his knuckles intimidatingly. His and Koujaku’s dislike of each other was no secret, and every time they saw each other insults, and sometimes fists, were thrown around.

“If you say so,” Aoba replied noncommittally, turning back to Sei and ignoring Noiz’s annoyed expression. "What did you two do? Or do I not want to know.” His smile turned wicked, and Noiz’s matching smirk was not helpful.

Mizuki and Sei had been together over a year, and it was known to all the people in the room that they did have sex, but Sei’s cheeks still turned red with embarrassment. “We went shopping.”

Aoba’s eyes immediately lit up like a child’s at Christmas, the way they always did when Sei said he’d been shopping, seeming to think of himself as some kind of fashion guru despite the horrendous outfits he sometimes wore, not to mention those yellow socks. “What did you get?”

“Just some clothes, Mizuki got a hoodie.”

“Talking about me? Only nice things I hope.” Mizuki smiled, entering the room and shutting his coil, pizza having presumably been ordered, he took his place next to Sei as always, letting him practically stick his feet under his butt as he curled up.

“Sei was telling us about the clothes you guys got.” Noiz remarked, green eyes barely looking away from his coil, where he was typing rapidly.

“Can we see?” Aoba asked, persistent as always, not noticing as Sei froze up for a second, looking to Mizuki for encouragement.

“Um, sure.” Sei nodded, accepting Mizuki’s hand squeeze before he stood and left the room, gentle murmur of conversation following him into their room where the still full bags regarded him accusatorially.

He tried to calm himself down as he pulled the skirt over his slim hips, finding a black top that went with it and twisting it so it stayed straight, trying not to pull at it uncomfortably. It was nice, the material underneath was tight and firm around his ass and thighs, and the flowing material of the skirt hung perfectly around his slim legs. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that everyone in the other room loved him, Aoba was his brother, Mizuki his adoring boyfriend, and Noiz his best friend, they wouldn't say anything cruel. They loved him. He took one last look at himself, thinking he looked a lot nicer than he’d felt in a while, taking a deep breath and walking into the living room, enjoying the way the skirt billowed out behind him.

* * *

 

The room fell silent when he walked in, amber and olive eyes landing on him immediately, Mizuki’s mouth hung open slightly and Aoba’s eyes were a shade wider than normal as he regarded his brother. It was Noiz who broke the uncomfortable atmosphere and unclogged the lump in Sei’s throat. The lull in conversation brought him out of his technological world and he looked up from his coil, expression neutral as he took in the image of his best friend in a skirt.

“You look hot.” Inappropriate as always, Noiz earned himself a glare from Mizuki and a harsh nudge in the ribs from Aoba, pouting as if he’d been punished for no reason. “What? He does, it’s a nice skirt.”

“It..” Aoba’s voice trailed off, head tilted to the side as he regarded his brother with narrowed eyes. “It really suits you.”

Sei could feel a small smile growing on his face, nobody was laughing, or calling him mean names or looking disgusted, they were being nice, really nice.

“You think so?” He asked shyly, looking down at the princess-y fabric that flowed around his legs.

“Mm, you’ve got the legs for it.” Aoba replied, and Mizuki nodded dumbly in agreement, still seemingly unable to string a sentence together, so surprised at how good it really did look.

“You sound jealous.” Noiz grinned.

“I am not! My legs are just as good as his.” Aoba sulked, crossing his arms childishly and ignoring his boyfriend, “so what else did you get?”

“Um, a dress and a sweatshirt.”

“Ooh let’s see the dress!” Aoba urged, “can I try on the skirt?”

Noiz raised an eyebrow but said nothing, smirking quietly to himself in a way that Sei was sure spelled trouble. “Mm, sure.”

* * *

 

When they emerged a second later, Noiz promptly burst out laughing, though not at Sei, who stood there calmly in his black dress and watched as Aoba tried to throttle his boyfriend while not damaging Sei’s skirt.

“What’s so funny?” He demanded, face red with embarrassment as he tugged at the skirt weakly.

“It looks weird on you.” Noiz remarked bluntly.

“You do have hairy legs,” Mizuki added, shooting Sei a wink that made him turn as scarlet as his twin and wish he had longer sleeves to hide his hands in.

“I'm meant to have hairy legs! I’m a man aren't I?

“That’s debatable…”

“What did you say, brat?!”

* * *

 

If Mizuki noticed when he peeled Sei out of his dress later that night that he had shaved his legs, he said nothing of it, just smiled and ran his hands over the soft skin, thinking it didn't make him any less of a man in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- minky-way.tumblr.com  
> 


	10. Hanging out with Friend(s)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say you choose your friends, but that's not strictly true

“Did you get a haircut?” Sei asked, fingers playing with Noiz’s hair absently where his head lay on his legs, green eyes focused on the game he played on his Coil.

“Hm? Oh yeah, Aoba made me, he said it was getting too long.” The German replied absently, cursing as he mis-dodged and an attack hit his character, health plummeting down and quickly using a potion to replenish it, clearly not paying much attention to Sei.

“It looks good.” Sei’s eyes flicked over to the clock, anticipation coiling in his gut as he realised Mizuki should be coming in from work any minute now. Sure, he really liked hanging out with Noiz, they were best friends after all, but since he downloaded that stupid game he hadn’t been the best company.

Sei was right, and minutes later the sound of the apartment door opening reached his ears, Noiz still refusing to budge even as the bartender walked in, flinging his leather jacket and onto the back of the other couch, slipping out of his boots. His eyebrow rose in amusement as he saw Sei, seemingly trapped by Noiz’s head mouth the word ‘help.’

“You two certainly look comfortable.”

“Not really, he’s been lying on me for nearly an hour. My legs have gone numb.” Sei complained good naturedly, giving Noiz’s head a flick as a beeping noise alerted him to having lost the game, scowling at the screen.

“You could have asked me to move.” He commented petulantly, raising a hand to wave lazily at Mizuki, “yo.”

“I did. Twice.” Sei argued back, recalling how he’d mumbled something unintelligible but stayed put even as his pins and needles turned into heavy numbness.

“Oh.”

“Move, or I’ll move you.” Mizuki threatened, though half-heartedly, knowing full well that Sei could have shoved Noiz off quite easily, so distracted was he by his game, which he had now minimized.

“Getting jealous, Dry Juice?” Noiz smirked, though he moved anyway, sliding to sit beside Sei instead of practically on top of him, moving an arm to rest round his neck over the back of the couch.

“Sure, Bunny, whatever helps you sleep at night.” Mizuki responded, grinning as the nickname made Noiz’s cheek flush red and a childish scowl grace his features.

“Don’t call me that.” He complained, constantly embarrassed by the stupid nickname the tattooist had given him upon discovering his love of rabbits and everything to do with them.

“Whatever,” Mizuki shrugged, throwing himself heavily onto the other sofa and relaxing into it sighing tiredly. “I swear you spend more time here than at your own place. You might as well move in.”

“That an offer?”

“Dear God no.” The bartender replied, looking honestly alarmed at the suggestion, though he had to admit it probably wouldn’t be that horrendous, it would keep Sei happy at least.

“Didn’t want to hear you two fucking anyway.” He commented, grin lecherous as he nudged Sei, earning himself a hard smack to the arm and a glare as fierce as Sei could muster.

“Wish it was you instead?” Mizuki taunted, very aware that Noiz wished nothing of the sort, his affection for Sei was purely innocent, apparently having rather a strong need for physical contact with anyone he felt comfortable with, which was basically just Sei. It wasn’t like Mizuki actually minded when he entered the flat after a late shift at the bar and found them cuddled together on the couch, watching a film and drifting in and out of sleep. It was cute, and he had to admit he was glad Sei had such a good friend to keep him company while he worked. Anyway, even if Noiz did secretly harbour feelings for Sei, he trusted his boyfriend enough to know he wouldn’t cheat and would resist any advances that might be made, unlikely as they were.

“Mizuki!” Sei yelled, throwing a cushion at his boyfriend and turning bright red at the suggestion, “that’s disgusting!”

Noiz withdrew his arm from round Sei’s shoulders, raising an eyebrow and leaning back, clearly trying to look offended. “Disgusting, huh?”

Sei looked alarmed, presumably thinking he had actually hurt Noiz’s feelings and proceeding to make the situation worse, “Not that it would be disgusting!” It took him a second to realise what he had said, Mizuki raising a brow at him this time, though his eyes were amused as he watched his boyfriend panic. “No! I didn’t mean that!”

“So I disgust you?” Noiz asked, unable to hide his grin now as Sei’s face turned redder and he stammered.

“N-no! I just meant it’d be-“ Sei was beginning to clock on to the joke, Mizuki and Noiz beginning to laugh aloud now as his face twisted in annoyance. “Ugh! I hate you both!”

He buried his head into the arm of the sofa, hands over his head and sulking like a child as his friend and boyfriend teased him.

Noiz and Mizuki left him there for a minute, chuckling to themselves, Noiz accepting a cigarette Mizuki offered him and lighting up, rolling his eyes as Sei still did not move, neck hot with embarrassment. He shifted across the sofa towards him, fingers ticking his sides gently, making him squirm, small huff of displeasure leaving him.

“You don’t hate us.” Mizuki spoke up, leaving his own seat to crouch in front of Sei and poke his exposed nose, prompting him to crinkle it adorably.

“I do.” He responded, but it was clear now that he was faking being upset, enjoying the attention too much to move.

“Would you stop hating us if we got pizza?” Noiz suggested, basically voicing his own ever present desire for pizza while trying to bribe Sei.

A dark eye glimmered up at him, “I’d consider it.”

“Then I suppose we have no choice.” The tattooist spoke sternly, as if announcing a plan of attack in a warzone instead of offering to buy takeaway. Sei finally lifted his face from the couch, pinkness still lingering in his cheeks as he rolled his eyes at his stupid friends.

“You’re an idiot,” he remarked fondly.

“First you hate me, now I’m an idiot. You haven’t even kissed me hello, you’re the worst boyfriend ever.” Mizuki fake complained, enjoying the sassiness Sei always gained when he’d spent the day with Noiz, his own sarcasm and sharpness encouraging Sei to be more assertive than normal. The German in question smiled and left the room to order, knowing what they usually ordered so feeling able to order things everyone would like.

“I do apologise,” Sei smiled, laughing as Mizuki pouted his lips unattractively, looking rather like a fish, refusing to kiss him til he stopped acting so dumb. The bartender obeyed almost instantly, rewarded with a kiss from his boyfriend, “welcome home.”

Mizuki smiled again, going in for another kiss and ignoring Noiz as he walked back in, face screwed up in fake disgust.

“You two are gross.” He complained, prompting Mizuki to stick his middle finger up at him, making his snort in amusement.

“Shut up and pick a film already,” Sei commanded, breaking contact with Mizuki’s lips for a second before diving in for another kiss, knowing Noiz didn’t really mind.

* * *

 

Hanging out with Noiz and Mizuki was one of Sei’s favorite things to do, adjusting his position on the sofa, sandwiched between them, Noiz curled around him on the left and Mizuki lying on his lap, both fast asleep. He still felt sick from all the pizza he’d eaten, but there was a contented warmth in his chest as he closed his eyes too, knowing he’d have sweet dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- minky-way.tumblr.com
> 
> This is so fluffy it's disgustign  
> I totally ship Sei/Noiz by the way can you tell?


	11. Dancing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It takes two to tango, but sometimes the involvement of a third party makes everything far more amusing

“I can’t.”

“Sure you can, you’ve got legs don’t you?” Mizuki objected, raising an eyebrow at his stubborn boyfriend who was refusing to even get off the sofa.

“Yes, but that’s the not the point. I don’t know how!”

“Then I’ll teach you!”

“I don’t want to!” Sei objected, getting tired of arguing now and just wanting to be left alone, turning away from his pestering boyfriend to gaze at the TV where a muted, and terrible looking, game show was playing.

The bartender sighed, flopping down onto the couch next to him and placing an arm round his shoulders, pulling him into his side and ignoring the whine of protest he made, determined to find out what was wrong.

“Why are you so determined not to dance? It’s your brother’s wedding, don’t you want to join in a little?”

“I’m Noiz’s best man, I’m joining in enough.” Sei protested, remembering fondly the day Noiz had arrived at their apartment while Mizuki was on a rare night out with his Dry Juice team. He’d been practically trembling with nerves, hiding his hands in his pockets and stumbling over his words in a way he’d never done before. He hadn’t even been able to say it, just making a noise of frustration and pulling his left hand out of his pocket, shiny silver ring on his finger making his point clear. After much hugging and congratulating and blushing, on Noiz’s side, he’d finally managed to find his words, asking Sei to be his best man and prompting him to burst into tears.

“Exactly! Everyone will expect you to join in afterwards, and if not they’ll all just ask you why you’re not dancing and it’ll be irritating to have people ask you over and over.”

“Irritating? You don’t say…” Sei muttered darkly, wondering if Mizuki knew that was exactly what he’d been doing the whole day. “I just don’t want to, Mizu. I’ll look stupid in front of everyone!”

The bartender paused, about to interrupt Sei and object to being called irritated, “that’s what you’re worried about? Looking stupid?”

Sei nodded, turning his head away as if embarrassed, then promptly whipping it back round as his boyfriend began to laugh, intensely offended at having his worries laughed about.

“Of course you’re going to look stupid!” Mizuki continued, unaware that Sei was growing offended and hurt.

“What the-“ He began angrily, presumably about to yell at Mizuki for being such an insensitive dick, when a tanned finger was placed over his lips, silencing him and prompting him to glare at it, wondering whether biting it was a good idea.

“Just, let me finish, okay?” Sei nodded reluctantly, and the tattooist took his finger away. “I meant, everyone looks stupid doing the Macarena and stuff like that, that’s why it’s fun though.”

“The... The Macarena?” Sei asked, realization dawning and feeling his cheeks turn hot with embarrassment at just how much he’d misunderstood. “I thought you meant like.. Waltzing and stuff.”

Mizuki looked confused for a minute, regarding his boyfriend curiously, before two and two clicked together and he laughed, “You thought we’d have to slow dance?”

“Well... Yeah, kinda. Isn’t that what you do at weddings?” Sei asked, twining his fingers anxiously, feeling like an idiot.

“Maybe Aoba and Noiz will for the first dance, but afterwards they just play pop songs and stuff.” Mizuki explained, mouth turning downwards, “you’ve never been to a wedding before?”

“Haven’t had much chance,” Sei shrugged, noticing his boyfriends almost guilty expression and giggling, pressing a kiss onto his cheek. “So, you were going to teach me how to do the Macarena?”

“You want to?” Mizuki asked, eyes lighting up with excitement as he regarded his still reluctant boyfriend, careful as always not to force him into anything.

“If it’ll get you to stop bothering me.” Sei joked, standing up and pulling Mizuki up too, “but if you make me look stupid I will kill you.”

“Mm-hm, sure you will.” The tattooist nodded, “Let me go grab the CD.”

He returned a second later with a suspiciously pink CD case, which Sei of course wanted to look at, raising a mildly amused eyebrow at the title, “pop party?” He flipped it over to look at the songs, internally cringing already. “These songs are terrible. Are you sure they’ll play these? Isn’t Noiz in charge of the music?”

“I heard something about a rabbit petting zoo, of course he’ll want all the cheesy songs. He’s basically twelve, and your brother’s not much better.”

Sei’s eyebrows rose at the petting zoo idea, though he had to admit it wasn’t that terrible an idea, and Noiz did love rabbits an extraordinary amount. “What if they escape? Or poo everywhere…?”

Mizuki shook his head in exasperation, placing the CD into the TV and flicking through the channels until he found the right one. “Don’t even ask, Aoba sounded concerned too. What song do you want to start with?”

“None of them.” He replied flatly, snorting at the slump of Mizuki’s shoulders.

“The Macarena it is.” He continued sunnily, as if Sei hadn’t spoken. “I won’t make you learn them all, just the main ones, that way if someone asks why you’re not dancing you can just say you’re tired, or waiting for the next song or something.”

“You really have thought of everything,” Sei remarked, pleasantly surprised Mizuki had put this much thought into it.

“Of course.” He replied smugly, “Okay, ready to go?”

“Ready and willing!” The hint of sarcasm in his voice was obvious, but his boyfriend ignored it with no more than an eye roll.

“Okay, so watch me first and I’ll demonstrate.” Mizuki instructed, placing himself in the middle of the room, having already moved the coffee table to make enough space. “It starts arms out, then you flip each one, cross to your shoulders, onto your head, cross to hips, switch each one over, wiggle, jump and clap. Then you just repeat it.”

Sei blinked, “that’s it?”

“Yep.”

“For the whole song?”

“Told you it was easy.”

“You literally repeat that?” Sei’s voice was incredulous, he knew the song itself was repetitive, but assumed the dance would have at least some variation.

“Yes?” Mizuki sounded confused, “have you seen Noiz today by any chance? You’re very sarcastic.”

“Hm? Oh yeah, he came over earlier, something about Aoba being a Bridezilla and panicking about table cloths. Said he needed a break. Also, Aoba’s got him on some pre-wedding diet and he hasn’t had pizza in a week.”

“That explains the empty boxes in the kitchen,” Mizuki grinned, imagining Aoba could be quite horrendous when stressed enough about something as important as his wedding. “I imagine Noiz would be happy doing it in jeans and t-shirt.”

“Not really, Aoba doesn’t think he’s taking it seriously, but he just said they won’t enjoy it if they worry so much.” Sei explained, thinking Noiz took it just as seriously as Aoba, but that if one tablecloth was lime and one was neon green he wouldn’t really care.

“He’s got a good point, but sur- Hey! Are you trying to distract me?”

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Sei asked, feigning innocence with one finger to his lips, though he broke and giggled a second later. “Okay, I think I’ve got it.”

He then proceeded to demonstrate perfectly the dance Mizuki had just showed him, it wasn’t exactly difficult, you stood still in one place and moved your arms about a bit, then jumped to face in a different direction, and for some reason clapped.

“Well aren’t you the fast learner?” Mizuki joked, but he was honestly impressed how quickly he had picked it up. “Let’s try with the music.”

Sei wanted to object, he pretty much had it memorised, and didn’t really see how the music would help that much, but he humoured Mizuki’s request, letting him fast-forward through the song to the chorus.

“So after this ‘hey, Macarena!” Okay?” Mizuki prompted, smiling encouragingly at Sei, who found the whole thing utterly ridiculous.

“You are taking this way too seriously,” Sei remarked calmly, talking over the audible cue but still perfectly in time with Mizuki, jumping and promptly losing sight of Mizuki, who had jumped in the other direction, and was now back to back with him.

“You jumped the wrong way,” Mizuki grinned, “you jump to the right usually, unless everyone jumps to the left.”

Sei grumbled quietly under his breath, but turned to face Mizuki and resumed the tedious dance, performing a full circle quickly and wondering exactly how he was supposed to dance for over three minutes to this without dying of boredom.

A set of hands sneaking round his waist made him squeak in surprise, turning round to find Mizuki’s head balanced on his shoulder and a worryingly innocent smile on his face. “You’re meant to wiggle your hips before you jump.”

Sei raised an eyebrow, “you just want to see me shake my ass.”

Mizuki chuckled nervously, sound low in Sei’s ear, “well yeah, but you _are_ meant to.”

“I’ll save it for the wedding.” He tried to keep his voice steady as Mizuki’s hands slipped into his shirt and stroked his stomach, intentions clear. “I- I thought you were teaching me to dance?”

“I am.”

“A-and that involves your hands being in my pants, why?” Sei asked, voice trembling as Mizuki’s insistent hands crept past the waistband of his sweatpants, stroking his hipbone.

“Have you heard of the horizontal tango?” The bartender asked, no doubt thinking he was horribly smooth, taking Sei’s silence as a no and grinning.

At least until he burst out laughing, doubling over and clutching his stomach, unable to believe what he had just heard. “D-Did you honestly,” he had to pause to catch his breath, tears in his eyes as he practically cackled, “honestly, just use that line on me? That was awful!”

Mizuki looked disgruntled for a second, releasing Sei’s vibrating form from his arms and trying not to laugh, face red with embarrassment. “I gather it didn’t work then?”

“No!” Sei exclaimed, wiping his eyes dry and turning to bury his face in Mizuki’s chest, shoulder shuddering as he tried to reign in his amusement.

“Ah well, you can’t blame me for trying.” Mizuki shrugged, willing to admit defeat this time, and making a mental note that Sei somehow knew more chat up lines than he’d expected, suspecting Noiz was to blame.

“Besides,” Sei’s grin was wicked, and Mizuki was half nervous, half excited about what he was about to say. “I thought you were teaching me new dances. I think I’m quite good at that one.”

“Only quite good?” Mizuki teased, wiping a stray tear from Sei’s cheek.

“Okay, I’m very good.” Sei’s grin was a mixture of embarrassed and amused, biting his lip in humour, presumably still thinking about Mizuki’s awful chat up line.

“Well, you know what they say. Practice makes perfect.” Mizuki grinned, though it fell as Sei just rolled his eyes and picked up the TV remote, flicking to the next song.

“Later, I want to learn the dance to Saturday night. Or do you think Gangnam Style?”

Mizuki was mildly amused at how fast Sei had brushed him off, figuring he had plenty of time to learn the perfect technique by now, although the promise of ‘later’, gave him at least some hope.

“Saturday night, it’s faster.”

“The Hoedown Throwdown always looks fun though,” Sei pondered, deliberately choosing longer and longer dances to irritate Mizuki, who clearly just wanted to stop this dancing thing, despite it being his idea in the first place.

“You don’t need to know all of them, maybe just one more?”

“Well- Oh, Aoba’s ringing me, hold on.” Sei accepted the call, Aoba’s voice filling the room.

“Have you seen my fiancé? He’s disappeared and I need him to help me choose the flowers.” His voice was frustrated and panicky, and Mizuki shot Sei a knowing look.

“What are the choices?”

“Lilies or hydrangeas, I need to order the centrepieces by tomorrow or they won’t be ready on time and everything will be ruined!”

“Go with hydrangeas, lilies stain.” Sei explained calmly, wondering exactly how long Aoba thought it would take to make like five centrepieces, certainly not the three weeks he seemed to think. “As for Noiz, I saw him a couple hours ago then he mumbled something about invitations and disappeared.”

“So he is doing something helpful then. What are you doing?” Aoba’s voice calmed down a pitch and the deep rumble of Ren’s voice in the background probably had something to do with it.

“Mizuki’s teaching me dances for the after party.” Sei smiled, an evil idea growing in his mind that he just couldn’t resist.

“Oh? Which ones? It’s all pop music and stuff, Noiz showed me the playlist earlier.”

“Um, only the Macarena so far, but he said he’d show me Gangnam style and the horizontal tango.” Mizuki’s face turned pale immediately, and the room fell silent for a second, until-

“Mizuki if you even try to have sex at my wedding I swear to God I’ll-“ Aoba’s voice burst out of the speaker like a foghorn, filling the room while Sei tried not to laugh too loudly and Mizuki frantically tried to explain himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me at- minky-way.tumblr.com


	12. Spooning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blankets? Check. Cuddles? Check. Operation cheer up is operational.

It was pitch black when Mizuki unlocked the apartment door, shoulders weary after a long day at work and feeling utterly exhausted from having to keep up conversation all day. Sometimes keeping up appearance was draining, energy seeming to seep from his pores with each smile and polite question he had to ask. But it wasn’t like he could act otherwise, he had a reputation to upkeep after all, and after it had been discovered he was gay and had a boyfriend, he’d lost some loyal Rib members. Keeping in the good books of the others was high on his agenda, and he didn’t plan to let anyone else slip away over something so stupid and essentially unimportant.

It wasn’t so late yet that Sei would be asleep, and some nights he stayed up til the early hours while Mizuki cleaned and closed the bar, curling up on the couch with a terrible film and trying to keep his eyes open long enough to kiss his boyfriend goodnight before being carried to bed.

“Sei?” Mizuki asked, flicking on the coffee table lamp and illuminating the living room with a soft glow, quick glance round showing that his boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. He quickly poked his head into the kitchen, though he knew it would be odd to find Sei there in the dark, but there was nothing but the soft humming of the refrigerator and a small pile of freshly washed dishes on the draining board.

“Babe?” He repeated gently, socked feet approaching their bedroom, boots having been abandoned at the door along with his trademark leather jacket, he hesitated at the door for just a second, but a muffled sniffle gave him a reason to push it open.

His boyfriend lay on the left side of the bed, facing away from him, legs tucked up into his chest and arms wrapped around a spare pillow. He was barely moving, but the moonlight streaming in from the window, blinds having not been drawn, showed he was shaking, small, uneven breaths leaving his lips.

“Babe? You okay?” The bartender asked, though he knew full well his boyfriend was crying, and trying to hide it, a sign he might want Mizuki to ignore it too. He knew better than to jump to the rescue, sometimes it made it worse, especially if Sei wanted his own space to breathe and calm himself down before he sought the older boy’s reassurances.

There was a moment of silence in which he heard a distinctive sob, muffled by the blankets swamped around Sei’s head, hiding him from the world, then a small, barely noticeable shake of his head made the bartender spring into action. He shimmied out of his jeans as fast as possible, which was a difficult task due to his penchant for wearing super skinnies he could barely peel off his calves, they fell to the floor a good minute later and he silently cursed their manufacturers for not taking things like undressing into consideration. Sei had moved to free some of the sheets he’d previously burritoed himself into, allowing the tattooist to slide under them and wriggle into position behind his boyfriend, hand resting cautiously on Sei’s upper arm.

“What’s wrong babe?” Mizuki made sure to keep his voice gentle, being able to hear his boyfriends crying up close was heart-breaking and he just wanted permission to wrap his arms round him and cuddle him close til he felt better.

There was another wet sniff and Sei raised a hand to wipe his running nose, shrugging slowly, “I just feel sad today.”

His voice hitched and broke halfway through, and like that his barriers were down, he met Mizuki’s hand with his own and tugged it til the bartender got the hint and wrapped it around his slim waist, pulling him flush to his own body. He buried his nose into black hair and planted a kiss on the apple-scented strands, “want to talk about it?”

“No,” the answer was certain and Mizuki knew not to push it, just humming softly against Sei’s skin and rubbing his thumb in soothing circles over his flat stomach, sadness seeping through his flesh and into the bartenders, making his heart heavy and his stomach twist with uselessness.

“Anything I can do?” Before now Sei had asked for various things, if he wasn’t feeling too bad he’d request ice-cream and they’d cuddle on the couch with a film til he felt better. Or sometimes if bad thoughts filled his head he’d ask Mizuki to talk to him, either reading from a book or just telling him anecdotes from work til the voices in his head shut up.

“Just… Stay with me.” He sniffed, though he was shaking less than he had been earlier, fingers locked with the bartenders on his stomach.

“Sure thing, babe.” He replied softly, pressing a quick kiss to Sei’s shoulder and resolving to just be there, a comforting presence to hold him until he felt better or fell asleep. It almost made him feel important, knowing just being there for Sei was often enough to make him feel better, and he’d always be there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- motorcycle-chan.tumblr.com  
> Or DMMd blog- minky-way.tumblr.com


	13. Wearing Animal Ears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What does the fox say? Not vomiting noises, that's for sure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emetophobia warning- The last paragraph of this chapter does contain a reference to vomiting, nothing detailed but you might want to skip it anyway!

“This is officially the stupidest theme ever.” Mizuki complained, adjusting the headband irritably and glaring at the result in the mirror. “I look like a complete idiot.”

“No change there then…” Sei muttered, noticing Mizuki’s pout a second later and rolling his eyes, moving to adjust the ears atop his head so they were slightly less pointed. “Everyone else will have ears too, you know. We can all look like idiots together.”

“It’s Halloween, aren’t we supposed to look scary? Cat and bunny ears are not scary.” Mizuki continued to complain even as Sei began to block him out, pulling on his outfit and checking it in the mirror, rather pleased with how it had turned out.

“If you’re so upset you should have held a party of your own at the bar.” Sei remarked, having wondered all along why the bartender didn’t just do that, it would make everything a hell of a lot easier.

“After last year? No thanks.” He chuckled as he spoke but his eyes were still unimpressed as he eyed the outfit that lay on the bed. “Do I have to wear this?”

“Yes, Mizuki, since I made it.” Sei had been going to buy the costumes online, but at seeing the ridiculous prices had decided to make it his project to hand sew their costumes. He thought they’d gone very well. “At least we don’t have masks.”

The bartenders sigh was rather too loud for Sei to be anything but mildly irritated by it, sure, costumes always made the person wearing them feel stupid. But they weren’t even that bad, Mizuki’s was just an orangey-brown t-shirt with a large white patch sewn on, and matching coloured trousers. Sei’s was basically the same except his was grey and he’d gone with a mid-thigh length dress with the same white patch in the middle, and he didn’t think it looked too bad, turning round to see the back and almost wishing he’d picked an animal with a tail.

“It’s alright for you, you look cute in yours.” Mizuki, it seemed, was still sulking even as he stripped out of his jeans and shirt, not bothering to get into the costume but instead standing in front of it and continuing to pout like an overgrown child.

“At least people will know what you are,” Sei remarked, realising he’d be in for a night of people asking if he was a mouse. Maybe he should have got them face paints too? Though he wasn’t sure Mizuki could have taken that. “And look how awesome your tail is! It took me ages.”

Mizuki lifted up the tail, separate from the rest of his outfit, and had to admit, it was pretty impressive, fluffy and soft with a pure white tip. Not to mention it was huge.

“It is awesome, but how am I supposed to wear it?” There were strap-like things attached to it, but how he was supposed to attach them to himself, he had no idea.

“Put your outfit on and I’ll show you.” Sei remarked coolly, as much as he enjoyed seeing the bartender in his boxers, he was aware that they needed to set off soon or they’d end up being unreasonably late.

Mizuki obeyed with minimal complaining, begrudgingly admitting that maybe he didn’t look that stupid after all, but he’d still rather be dressed as something scary.

“Now lift up your top.” Sei ordered, picking up the tail and feeling immensely proud of how it had gone, unclipping the strap and, just, managing to get his arms around Mizuki’s middle to strap it in place around his stomach muscles. He grabbed a pair of scissors next and cut a small hole further up the t-shirt, slipping the next strap round Mizuki and attaching the end to the tail through the hole he’d made. Just glad the internet tutorial he’d watched seemed to have worked quite well. “There, you’re all done.”

“How do I look?” He asked, gazing at himself in the mirror with an almost pleased smile on his face as he turned to see the tail, resplendent where it sat against his back.

“Foxy.” Sei tried to keep his face straight, but the terrible pun was too much and he started giggling as Mizuki turned a faux-unimpressed expression on him, trapping him under his arm and hugging his neck.

“That was such a terrible joke.” He grinned, one finger running along Sei’s velvety ears absently. “It’s not fair, what jokes can I make about koalas?”

“None, that’s why I picked it.” Sei remarked calmly, leaving their bedroom to retrieve his shoes and yelling back to his boyfriend. “Come on, we’re going to be late.”

Mizuki sighed, taking one last look at himself in the mirror, from fluffy white and orange ears, down through the outfit to his tail, wiggling it slightly and unable to hide a grin. Okay, so maybe he quite liked the costume, nobody had to know.

* * *

 

“Say a word and I’ll kill you both.”

“It’s nice to see you too, Noiz.” Mizuki remarked sarcastically, struggling to hide his laughter at the preposterously sized rabbit ears that rested resplendently on Noiz’s head, much to his seeming displeasure.

“Your ears are really good, did you make them?” Sei asked, tempted to touch them, but seeing Noiz’s ‘don’t even dare’, expression and keeping his hands to himself.

“Aoba, he wouldn’t let me be anything else.” He was pouting now, and what was it with boyfriends and pouting today?

“Because we all know you’d never want to be a bunny.” Mizuki’s voice was teasing, but there was honest hate in Noiz’s eyes as he glared at him and Sei gripped his sleeve warningly. “Whatever, are we allowed in or are you going to keep us on the doorstep all night?”

He shifted to let them pass, Mizuki entering first and drawing a raised blonde eyebrow as his tail was visible for the first time, rapidly pretending to be unimpressed. He begrudgingly accepted the kiss on the cheek Sei gave him, flushing red as he used the opportunity to feel his ears, which were as soft as they looked.

“I think you look cute.” He beamed, taking in the rest of the costume, he’d gone with an almost blonde coloured rabbit, golden material speckled with white patches, and he was wearing a onesie. “Do you have a tail?!”

Noiz’s expression would have frightened a lesser man, but Sei knew full well the German was harmless, clapping in glee as he sighed and slowly turned, revealing a puff of white fluff on his ass.

“Where’s Aoba?” He asked a moment later, they’d headed through to the living room where some people were milling about with drinks, or in Clear’s case, dancing round waving his jellyfish skirt while Mink stood the side looking intimidating despite the deer outfit he’d gone with.

“In the kitchen, making drinks or something.” Noiz shrugged, pointing the direction out and heading towards Mizuki who seemed to be talking to Koujaku, resplendent as a peacock.

* * *

 

“A cat, huh?” Sei asked, laughing as Aoba jumped about a foot in the air and the contents of his glass splashed out and onto the floor.

“Holy crap, Sei, don’t sneak up on people like that!” He remarked, but he didn’t look too unimpressed, in fact if his rosy cheeks were anything to go by, he’d been drinking, a sure recipe for disaster. “What are you, a mouse?”

Sei managed to control the twitch of his eyebrow, smiling serenely instead, “Koala actually.”

“Hm, well it’s original. What’s Mizuki?” He asked, turning away to wipe the floor clean with paper towels, tail almost brushing the ground.

“Fox. He’s been sulking about his costume all day too. Noiz didn’t look happy.”

“Oh please, he asked me to make him a bunny costume.”

Sei rapidly marked that down in his internal list of things to use against Noiz, it was good to have minor blackmail for the German in case he got to be too much of a pain.

“Drink?” Aoba had straightened up now, gesturing to the sizeable crowd of bottles, some with carbonated drinks and some bottles of alcohol.

“Lemonade, thanks.”

“Not drinking properly?” Aoba asked, though he poured the drink and handed it over anyway, leading the way into the living room where the others had gathered, shooting Koujaku a dirty look as he flirted shamelessly with two women he’d never seen before.

“No, last time… Well it didn’t go well.” Sei was not planning to elaborate, between him managing to sloppily seduce Mizuki and vomiting all over the bathroom floor minutes later, it hadn’t been an experience he cared to repeat.

Aoba’s face was scrunched up in a question, but when an answer wasn’t forthcoming he just shrugged and headed across the room to the sofa where their respective boyfriends sat, talking about something quite loudly.

“What are you two talking about?” Sei asked, noticing that the minute they came into view the talking ceased and the two men shared an almost alarmed look.

“Nothing.” Mizuki remarked, hiding his face in a glass too fast for it to seem casual.

But the shared wrath of two Seregaki’s was too much for most people, and Mizuki looked like he would crack remarkably easily. Luckily, they didn’t have to bother with interrogating him, as Noiz spoke up remarkably calmly.

“We were arguing over which of you looked hottest.” His grin was too much like a smirk for Aoba’s liking, who rested his hands on his hips authoritatively.

“You better have been arguing for me.” Aoba remarked, which was apparently his only problem with the conversation.

“Obviously.” Noiz remarked, though Sei didn’t notice the look that passed between the boyfriends as Aoba plopped onto the couch next to Noiz, suitably placated by the response.

Sei just rolled his eyes, he was used to Noiz’s inappropriate behaviours by now, and barely batted an eyelid at the topic of their conversation, allowing Mizuki to pull him onto his lap. Arms wrapped round him and he relaxed back, wondering just what the point of parties was if you didn’t drink and eyeing Aoba nervously as he all but downed his cup.

“If he’s sick, I’m not helping.” Mizuki whispered into his ear a second later, presumably reading his mind.

“Agreed.” He replied, remembering having to do it before, it hadn’t been pleasant, and dragging his significantly heavier twin into bed had nearly broken his back.

* * *

 

As it turned out, it was Mizuki, and not Aoba, who was sick, ears drooping down his head until they fell into the toilet along with the contents of his stomach, thankfully after they made it home. Sei could only sigh as he fished them out and dumped them in the sink to be dealt with in the morning, putting his annoyance over his ruined outfit aside as he looked after his idiot of a boyfriend, promising himself to make the hangover hell for him cutting his evening short.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at- motorcycle-chan.tumblr.com  
> Or DMMd blog- minky-way.tumblr.com
> 
> (also I'm aware it's not Halloween for several months, let's just ignore that)


	14. Cooking/Baking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sei held a slice of bread on either side of Mizuki's face, trying not to grin as he asked, "what are you?"  
> "An idiot sandwich."

They soon discovered that while Sei was perfectly competent in the kitchen, if Mizuki was given free reign, it was a disaster. Sei was promptly placed in charge of cooking during the week, with Mizuki cooking on the weekends (with heavy supervision) and one night assigned as date night, with takeaway or a meal out. Usually this system worked great for both of them, Sei loved cooking, and since he shopped for the ingredients, it make sense that he be the one to prepare and serve them. Cooking never seemed like a chore to him, and he knew Mizuki would rather eat his frankly quite delicious meals, than take some of the responsibility off him and have to try and force down his own burnt, bad tasting attempts.

But sometimes, Mizuki got ideas, and they tended not to be that good. So was the case now, the bartender staring in utter horror at the horrendous mess he’d made of the kitchen, not to mention the stomach-churning smell coming from the pan of what claimed to be ‘easy’ chicken noodle soup. He scanned the recipe with growing annoyance, because he had followed it word for word, he’d boiled up old chicken bones from the day before to make the stock, kept the picked off meat in the fridge at a suitable temperature, and cooked it exactly as the recipe said.

So then why did it smell like cough medicine?

He rubbed his eyes exasperatedly, pushing a stray piece of onion peel off the printed out sheet and glaring at it, wondering if maybe he’d used some wrong herb or spice. Oregano, basil, rosemary… Sure, the recipe had called for chicken breast not precooked leftover roast chicken, but he knew it was fresh so that couldn’t be it.

One garlic clove, one tablespoon ginger, two mushrooms.

He froze, eyes trailing back up the sheet to the ginger, where the letters ‘tsp’ glared at him accusingly, making him swallow hard as he moved to inhale the soup, sudden punch of spice making his eyes water and dragging a cough from his throat at how strong it was.

It wasn’t even that big a mistake, just a case of misreading the, frankly stupid measurement and accidentally putting in double, or maybe more than that, of the amount it required. If Sei was here he’d know how to fix it, bringing out some magic herb that would negate the effect of the stinging ginger and making it at least edible, if not as delicious as Mizuki had intended it to be. He felt almost conned by the websites promise that these recipes were simple, easy and delicious, so fair it had been neither simple nor easy, and he was almost too afraid to taste some to test the promised deliciousness for fear his nose would bleed from the sharp ginger.

All he could do now was finish it, which essentially consisted of taking it off the heat and cleaning the kitchen around it, hopefully he could be done tidying before Sei got back, and maybe he’d even be able to bin it, though he knew he’d notice the missing ingredients immediately.

* * *

Unfortunately for him, Sei arrived just as he was finishing wiping down the soup-splattered back board of the cooker, in fact the first sign of him being home was an almost disgusted noise, then a groan of realization.

“Mizuki, what did you do?” He asked, head popping into the kitchen and rest of him soon following as he took in his boyfriend’s sheepish expression, pan of soup still on the cold stove-top and handful of onion skin in his hands.

“I, um, tried to make soup.”

“What kind?” That was not what he’d expected as Sei walked past him to examine the pan, taking off the lid and blinking violently as the ginger assaulted him.

“Chicken noodle, I followed the recipe I just… Fucked up on the ginger,” he explained, feeling more and more deflated as Sei picked up the crumpled sheet on which said recipe was printed and examined it. No doubt he thought he was stupid for not being able to make something that apparently even children could make, a fact annoyingly quoted on the left of the page in cheery speech marks.

“How much did you use?” Already Mizuki could see the cogs in his cookery trained brain spinning, trying to figure out how they could fix it, or if they could, always hating waste but probably more than slightly annoyed that Mizuki had even bothered trying when he knew he was a terrible cook.

“A tablespoon,” he winced as Sei twisted his lips uncertainly, walking to the fridge and examining the contents, returning with a fresh onion and the bunch of spring onions, a packet of chicken breasts, the remains of the tinned sweetcorn and the plastic container of mushrooms.

“We can fix it,” he smiled, gesturing to the ingredients and fixing Mizuki with a smile he didn’t think he entirely deserved, sure that whenever he tried to do a nice thing and cook for his boyfriend, he ended up causing him more trouble.

“How?” He was utterly lost on how they could possibly fix the sinus-cleaning liquid that rested on the cooker, glaring at it like he detested it, feeling remarkably dejected that it hadn’t worked, because he’d felt so confident that he could do it.

“Well you used double the amount right? Roughly anyway, so it stands to reason that if we double everything else it’ll even it out.” He sounded certain as he spoke, but Mizuki knew he must really be annoyed, because it was Saturday for a start, which meant date night with a takeaway and one of Sei’s rare days off, and here he was, forced to cook again because of his monumental fuck up. “Mizu.”

But then Sei was in front of him, smiling almost in amusement, and loosening his hands where they’d clenched around the onion skin he was still holding, taking it from him and binning it easily.

“It was an accident, Mizu. You just read the measurements wrong, even I do that sometimes. It looks great aside from that.” Mizuki didn’t reply, but he looked so dejected that Sei couldn’t help smile, because it was cute how upset he seemed that he’d botched something so small in the grand scheme of things. He planted a quick kiss on his forehead, finding it more endearing than irritating that even despite his lack of cooking prowess, he’d still sometimes try to cook something nice for them. “Come on, I’ll tell you and you can do it, that way, it’s still you who’s made it. Okay?”

Mizuki’s lips were twitching into a smile, sighing tiredly as he took the knife Sei was offering, only just washed and now being used again, beginning to dice the vegetables Sei had left out. “But I used all the chicken, how are we meant to get stock?”

Sei just blinked at him, and for a horrible moment Mizuki thought that his whole meal saving strategy had fallen through and he’d be left to bin it after all, but it seemed his blank expression was one of disbelief. “From a stock cube.”

“Oh,” he was significantly embarrassed to say the least, shifting to the side so Sei could retrieve said stock cube, hearing rather than seeing him retrieve a pan, sound of sizzling and smell of cooking meat cluing him in that he was frying the other chicken, the stuff the recipe had called for but he hadn’t seen in the packed fridge.

“I meant to use this on Monday, but we can just have tofu instead,” the amusement in his voice was obvious as Mizuki made a noise of disgust, tongue coming out unattractively as he cringed at the onions, he hated tofu. “Oh shush, it’s good for you.”

* * *

 

So with Sei managing the chicken and stock, and Mizuki the vegetables, it was done and ready to cook through again in no time, noodles and rice added and turned on low to simmer. Now that it was over and seemingly might actually be edible, Mizuki felt significantly better, and could finally welcome Sei home properly, asking about his day instead of forcing him to fix his fuck up like the terrible boyfriend he sometimes thought he was.

* * *

 

Sei tasted it first, steaming pan just taken off the heat and a takeaway leaflet left ominously between the dried herbs, a reminder of their plan B if it was as awful as Mizuki feared. He waited almost anxiously as he blew on his spoonful before finally putting it into his mouth with a lack of reluctance Mizuki never understood, always nervous to taste his own cooking. His fingers twitched against his jeans as his expression remained neutral, swallowing without so much as any noise, either of disgust or pleasure, turning to Mizuki blankly.

“Oh God, it’s terrible isn’t it? I’m never cooking again…” He spiraled into panic and self-loathing immediately, because the recipe had said easy and he’d still fucked it up and he was so pissed off at hi-

“It’s good,” Sei’s expression broke into a grin and Mizuki blinked, because he’d never heard any positive word used for his cooking, usually it was more of a strained, ‘it’s not _that_ bad’.

“What?”

“Try it yourself,” Sei offered, not needing telling to step aside as Mizuki yanked his spoon out of his hand, barely cooling his own spoonful before eating it and-

“Holy crap, it _is_ good…” His eyes were wide with shock, because he had cooked this, or mostly cooked it anyway, and it was good, really good. In fact he’d happily eat a bowl of it with no hesitation, the ginger was a hell of a lot milder now, just warming his stomach rather than trying to kill it from the inside out, coming out of his amazement when Sei giggled.

“Well done,” he grinned, watching as Mizuki blushed pink, obviously very proud of himself but almost ashamed at feeling such success over something most people would consider tiny. “At least nothing’s on fire...”

* * *

 

He would have objected, if it hadn’t been true, remembering the last time had had tried to cook for Sei, and it was always for Sei, and he had almost literally set something on fire.

Cut to three months before the soup incident, and you land upon the legendary, much discussed cake trauma, and the reason Mizuki had refused to speak to Aoba for a whole week.

* * *

 

"Mizuki what the hell is going on?!" His voice was a combination of alarm, fear and a small amount of trepidation, because he knew full well what was going on. Coming home with Aoba to find the apartment filled with smoke and the sound of cursing coming from the kitchen, there was only one solution, Mizuki was cooking. Again. Dashing into the kitchen to find his boyfriend looking more than a little harassed, opening windows and frantically fanning the smoke alarm with a tea-towel, still smoking tray of... Something, resting on the counter top.

What hurt more than the knowledge of his own failure, was the laughter, mainly Aoba’s, though Sei had let out a couple of giggles too upon realizing their was no danger, he had at least stopped now, well aware Mizuki felt terrible enough without Aoba cementing how useless a cook he was.

“Stop laughing, Aoba!” Sei insisted, elbowing him hard in the ribs and bringing an abrupt, and pained end to his amusement, ignoring the glare he shot him. “What happened, Mizu?”

“The recipe was unclear.” He spoke, jaw set hard, probably with the urge to throw the wooden spoon he gripped tightly at Aoba’s stupid, mocking head.

“Okay… So you missed a step or?” He couldn’t see a printed recipe anywhere, nor were any of his cookbooks missing from on top of the fridge, rather to his relief seeing as those recipes way more difficult than he’d ever let Mizuki attempt.

“It seems that way.” His tone was firm and emotionless, but it was obvious how incredibly pissed off he was, whether with himself or with Aoba was yet to be seen. “It won’t come out of the baking tray. At all.”

Sei nodded slowly, taking in the spoon stuck upright in the brown lump in the tray, one of the good ones actually, fighting back a smile at how comical that looked and not quite managing. “Have you tried soaking it?” A laugh escaped into his words, making them come out squeaky and wobbly as he tried to contain himself, body shaking as he prodded at what was presumably cake mix and it didn’t move at all, a solid lump.

“No,” he answered shortly, tone showing just what he thought of that idea as well as of his boyfriends badly hidden amusement, watching as he raised his eyes to the ceiling, trying to blink away the tears of mirth in his eyes. “Because it’s supposed to be edible.”

“But you cooked it, so…” Aoba trailed off the moment two sets of eyes landed on him, Mizuki’s scorching and making him actively step backwards, and Sei’s disapproving, because as funny as this was, that was a low blow.

“This the recipe?” Sei asked, noticing for the first time that Mizuki’s coil was displaying a holographic screen, propped up against the salt pot, a recipe for something he’d never heard of called sticky toffee pudding taking up the page. “Hm, well it seems… Oh, did you use the water here? The stuff you softened the dates in?”

“What?” He asked, taking the coil from Sei’s hands and expression falling into sheer disbelief as he read it, noticing the ingredients called for half a litre of water, but nowhere did the recipe indicate he needed to actually add it. “No, I didn’t.”

“It’s not very clear,” Sei frowned, because although he would have realized it needed to go into the mixture, he could understand why somebody else would just throw it away after softening the dates in it. “How come you tried to make this? I’ve never heard of it…”

“Thought it looked cool, it’s from England, and I know you like toffee so…” He shrugged, embarrassment strong in every pore even as Aoba rolled his eyes because really, they were too gross for words.

“Oh. That’s…” He smiled, because despite it having ended in disaster and a kitchen full of smoke, it was sweet that he still tried. “It’s very sweet of you to try, but… Maybe you should leave the cooking to me from now on?”

“Yeah, okay,” he sighed, picking up the tray of destroyed, solidified pudding and dumping it in the sink, turning on the hot tap and hoping he’d just be able to scrub it out.

* * *

 

“Think the birds would eat it?” Sei asked absently, biting at his lip as he watched Mizuki attack it with a fork, soak in hot water overnight having done nothing to loosen it.

“It’s concrete,” he explained, although he at least saw the funny side now, Aoba had still annoyed him enough that he ignored him until he left, planning on continuing until he got an apology. “I think we’ll have to bin the whole thing.”

“Yeah, and that was a good baking tray too…” He watched almost mournfully as Mizuki tipped the whole thing into the bin, shutting the lid on it with finality. “You know I really appreciate you cooking for us, right?”

“I guess,” he grumbled, mildly satiated by Sei’s reassurances, but still bitter over his failures.

“But please don’t,” that didn’t exactly sound kind, so he quickly added onto it. “Or if you want to try something, let me cook it with you, or at least help.”

“Okay, I won’t,” And he meant it.

* * *

 

But then Mizuki got an idea, and when Mizuki got ideas, they tended not to be that good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funny story, the sticky toffee pudding is something that happened to me in school. Bad recipe + idiotic teacher = block of solid, inedible pudding that the birds wouldn't even eat and we had to eventually bin, tray and all
> 
> Come tell me your cooking disasters!- minky-way.tumblr.com


	15. Wearing each Others Clothes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eenie meenie, miney, mo, where did my new hoodie go?

“I’m cold.”

“So put something else on.” Mizuki replied, not even looking up from the complicated papers he was examining, rubbing his forehead as he tried to work out how he’d somehow managed to earn £50 he wasn’t aware of.

“So sympathetic.” Sei remarked sarcastically, but he knew Mizuki was too busy to be able to attend to his every whim for once, planting a kiss on his forehead as he walked past. “I’m stealing your hoodie.”

The bartender merely made a grunting noise indicating he’d heard, scanning through his tattoo appointment book for what felt like the sixtieth time that hour and wondering if he should just give in and hire an accountant to do all this for him.

Sei re-emerged from their room a second later, Mizuki’s black hoodie like a bag on him, sleeves hanging down way below his own hands and reaching his mid-thigh. He came to stand behind his boyfriend, resting his head on his shoulder and gazing with interest at his papers, noticing the circled £50??? In the middle of the page.

“You miscalculated something?”

“Mm, I’ve earned £50 more than I’ve accounted for and I can’t figure out where it came from.” Sure, it wasn’t really essential that he knew, but he liked to keep his books clearly filled in to account for incoming and outgoing accurately. One messed up number wouldn’t matter much, but if this continued happening he could end up in trouble.

“Didn’t Reiku pay you for his tattoo this week? You let him pay when he got his wages remember?”

There was a moment of silence as Mizuki tried to remember, then his face broke into a smile and he wrote the final number into his accounts. Spinning in his chair and beaming at Sei gratefully, “you are a genius, you know that?”

“I’ve been told so before.” Sei smiled, looking on with amusement as Mizuki’s attempt to grab his hands only left him with a handful of sleeve, frowning as he flapped the excess fabric about amusingly.

“You steal my clothes far too much.”

“They’re comfy.” Sei shrugged, they were, the extra material was good for snuggling into and he liked the fact he could hide in the big sleeves and hood if necessary.

“One of these days I’ll wear your clothes, see how you like that.” It was a hollow threat, but Sei’s raised eyebrow was challenging and Mizuki had never been one to back down.

“They wouldn’t fit you.”

“Wanna bet?” He remarked, standing from his chair with the intention of waiting until Sei least expected it to suddenly appear wearing some of his clothes, as payback if nothing else. He didn’t actually mind Sei wearing his clothes, in fact it was incredibly cute, not only how small and sweet he looked in them, but also how willing he was to just steal his stuff and not be bothered. It was a huge change from the boy who wouldn’t lend his hoodie in freezing temperatures just a few months ago.

* * *

 

Oh crap. This had not gone to plan, not even slightly. The only thing of Sei’s that would fit was pink, baby pink to be accurate, and even though it was baggy on him it fitted Mizuki almost perfectly. He looked completely fucking ridiculous. But now he needed something for his legs, after all, Sei loaned his sweatpants fairly often too, it made sense that if he did this that he’d go the whole hog.

Leggings should fit okay, he had no chance of getting his jeans on, their difference in size was too large and he didn’t want to actually damage any of Sei’s clothes by trying to force his far larger frame into them. He had lots of leggings, Mizuki knew that, but somehow the pile of them seemed even more ridiculous, sifting through them in search of what he knew were his favourite ones, the purple galaxy patterned ones.

When he eventually found them, he pulled them on carefully, wincing as the material stretched an outrageous amount to get over his muscular calves and up to his thighs. He knew they’d been expensive, he’d bought them after all, from some online alternative boutique in Australia that was apparently famous for both their brightly patterned leggings and their reversible dresses, so he really didn’t want to rip them.

But somehow, with much wriggling and gentle tugging of material, he got them on, stretched horribly tight across his ass and probably a little see through with how much they’d had to stretch just to cover him. He wasn’t even entirely sure what his aim was here, to amuse Sei with his stupid appearance and make him laugh, to teach him some kind of lesson about stealing his clothes? Even if he did mind Sei wearing his stuff all the time, this wouldn’t be the best way to go about it, even if it was horribly literal.

He guessed just making Sei laugh would be enough, even if his reflection in the wall mirror did make him look like a complete moron, the colours did not suit him one bit and it was obvious both items were much too small for him, hoodie showing a sliver of stomach.

“Oh Jesus…” He muttered, about to decide the whole idea was ridiculous and take them off, when he heard the front door, key sticking like always, another reminder he needed to grease the lock. It was now or never, and he walked into the living room with purpose, wondering how to position himself to look the most casual, settling on the sofa. The TV flicked on just as the door opened and voices, oh god, _voices_ , filtered into his ears over the sound of an old rerun of Law and Order.

He didn’t dare look up to see who it was with Sei, hearing the voices die out suddenly before obnoxious laughter filled his ears and he cringed, because this was far worse than he imagined it would be.

“Wh-Wh-what the fuck?” Noiz voice, and of course it would be Noiz, breaking with laughter and almost cackling with mirth, covered up the sound of his coil camera flicking, capturing the moment the bartender realised what was going on and lunged for him. Resplendent in funky leggings and baby pink, he wrestled the camera from Noiz’s hands, promptly deleting the picture and not realising until a second later that Sei was pointing his own camera at him. Noiz’s coil beeping with a new message from Sei, and Mizuki’s throat drying as he saw the list of recipients, Koujaku, Clear, Noiz, Aoba, Tio, Ren, Tae-san even Mink had received it.

Realising he was doomed to his fate, he simply flopped onto the couch face first and groaned into the cushions, ignoring Noiz’s mocking comments and Sei’s attempts to hide his giggles as his boyfriend lay there in a very self-depreciating state.

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you sent it to everyone,” he whined several hours later after Noiz had been unceremoniously kicked out and Sei had wiped his tears of mirth away, pouting where his head lay on Sei’s stomach. “You’re the worst boyfriend ever.”

Sei knew he didn’t actually mean that, but he raised an eyebrow anyway, shooting him an unimpressed expression and earning a sheepish grin, just rolling his eyes as Mizuki played absently with his fingers. “You’re the one who put on my clothes, couldn’t you have picked manlier ones?”

“Not to be rude, but you don’t exactly own many manly clothes,” his boyfriends femininity had never really bothered him at all, if he liked to wear colours people saw as girly or to wear dresses and leggings, Mizuki really didn’t care. He was still Sei whether he wore jeans or a skirt, and he did look very cute in more feminine clothing he had to admit, “plus not much of it would have fitted me, you’re only little.”

Sei just smiled at that, because their size difference was quite significant, Mizuki was not a huge amount taller, but he was a lot bigger built than Sei and had muscle where all he had was bone and pale skin. Even the fact that he’d fitted into his clothes was amazing to Sei, who honestly thought he wouldn’t be able to at all, even with the stretchier items like his leggings. “So did you like wearing my clothes?”

Mizuki frowned, but it soon faded as Sei rubbed at the creases in his forehead and his lips turned upwards because he was horribly cute, “not really, I kinda don’t get it, the whole wearing your partners clothes thing. Why d’you like it so much?”

“Well it helps when they fit,” he grinned, because did Mizuki really think he might enjoy wearing clothes so small he’d be terrified to move in case he stretched or tore them, something Sei would not be impressed by, since he so treasured his clothes.

“But my stuff’s huge on you, why don’t you just buy your own oversized hoodies or whatever?”

“Well, it’s not the same,” he was confused now, because surely it was obvious that wearing a large hoodie of his own would not be the same as wearing a large hoodie of Mizuki’s, if it was just a size thing he’d just buy clothing too big for him on purpose. “I mean it… It wouldn’t be the same if it was mine. It’s like… Having you with me all the time. Like if you’re at work and I’m lonely or whatever…”

He paused to clear his throat and offer Mizuki a small smile, because he didn’t like the sadness creeping into his eyes, no doubt feeling guilty for leaving him to bartend and do his tattoos even though Sei would never begrudge him it. “I dunno, it’s just nice. They’re so big I can just snuggle into them, and they smell like you…” His face was tinged pink as he tried to explain just how protected and loved wearing Mizuki’s clothes made him feel, how owned almost, like they were a sign to others that he had somebody who loved him that much. “I just like ‘em.”

Sei’s shrug was casual enough, but Mizuki could tell he was just trying to make it seem like a smaller thing than it was, wondering how many times Sei had been lonely or sad and had found comfort by cuddling into one of his sweatshirts, not sure if it made him feel better or not. He supposed it was nice that Sei wanted to keep some of him around him at all times, even if it was just his scent, thinking it was a good way to get closer to him, and he had to admit that before now he’d take a hoodie back and enjoy the faint smell of Sei on the fabric.

“Hm, in that case I’ll let you off,” he grinned, enjoying the way Sei’s eyes rolled sarcastically but glinted with genuine happiness as he stretched up to kiss him, planning on lying on his warm body a while longer before suggesting they headed to bed so he could peel Sei out of his stolen hoodie.


	16. On one of their Birthdays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now blow the candles out my dear, and make my wish come true

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really sad and I'm so sorry

He knew they talked about him, whispered among themselves whenever he entered the ward, which was most days now, bypassing the nurse’s station because he knew where he was going and pushing open the room door gently.

The usual sound of beeping met his ears and the sound of the hospital dimmed behind him as he quietly eased the door shut, though some part of him knew it wouldn’t matter much if he even slammed it, it wasn’t like the rooms occupant could hear. Or he didn’t know if he could anyway, mouth twitching into a smile as he took in the room, decorated with balloons he didn’t know if he could see and with flowers and cards decorating the bedside table. A teddy bear he recognised as being from Aoba rested at his side on the large bed and there was an empty pizza box in the bin, so presumably Noiz had already visited today.

Mizuki was the last and he knew it, had deliberately waited til the last hour of visiting to go, just so he wouldn’t bump into anybody else, because he didn’t want them to ask how he was, to be concerned, to say it looked like he was having a nice birthday because who the fuck knew?

But still, he wasn’t here to be miserable and cry and mourn his quasi-loss, no, he was here to try and celebrate, to read his cards to him in case the nurses hadn’t had time or didn’t think it was necessary since they didn’t even know how conscious he was. He was here to give him presents he might never see and to try and celebrate when really, there was nothing to celebrate.

That he was still alive? Maybe, but he was living on the verge of death, belonging on neither side of that blunt line, some days he seemed more awake, more alive than others, and he would smile and his eyes would land on the bartender, his hands would twitch as if he was trying to hold that of his boyfriend. But some days he was nearly dead and he just lay there completely still, skin just on the verge of turning cold and eyes shut, not responding to anything as if he was completely in a coma.

He just hoped today was a good day, moving to sit at his bedside and eyes lingering over his face for a moment, taking in the fact that his eyes were open, which was always a good sign, wondering if somehow he’d had a good day. Trying to ignore the horrible urge to cry he was always overcome with when he had to see him like this, like he’d always been since the accident over two years ago now. Two birthdays spent in the hospital, unable to smile or laugh except involuntarily and in the wrong moment so it just hurt more, two birthdays where he couldn’t have a party or open presents or even just cuddle with his boyfriend. He hadn’t brought his presents to the hospital, he was stockpiling them at home, hoping that he could wake up and open them all at once, eyes fixed on the teddy he’d got him the year before, tucked under his arm by one of the nurses.

His swallow was thick and he hesitated for the split second before he kissed his forehead, horribly clammy and almost cold under his lips, trying to keep his voice positive even though he knew Sei might not be able to hear it. “Happy birthday, babe.”

It had been so hard at first, to try and make conversation with somebody who couldn’t talk, had apparently mumbled the occasional word, but never when he was there and never decipherable. “Twenty-nine huh? You’re getting old,” he was joking, but his words stung because that wasn’t old, nowhere near old enough to be like this, to be trapped in a hospital, fed and watered through tubes and with people having to wash him. Too young to have his life torn away so harshly, he might still have fifty years left of life left and Mizuki hated that he’d have to spend them like this. He could never have seen this, when he envisioned their future sure there might be thoughts of illness, of being sick and maybe bad enough to be hospitalised, but a major accident like this, brain damage, wasn’t what he ever would have imagine.

He’d wanted them to spend their future together properly, to wake up next to him every day, to maybe get married one day and be together until death did they part, not to have Sei partially dead like he was. It was like he couldn’t grieve for him because he wasn’t properly dead, he couldn’t even explain it, he was dead and alive at the same time and it was agony to not know which side might win. There’d been talks of ending it for him before, of stopping giving him fluids and food and essentially letting him starve to death, but that sounded too painful and cruel and Mizuki knew he was in enough pain already. He just wished Sei could tell them what he wanted, whether he was alright living like this, but how could he be? Or whether he wanted to die.

His throat was thick and he hadn’t meant to think about this today, but fuck it was his birthday and he should be awake and full of life like he used to be, not stuck in this shitty hospital in this tiny room with an awful view. “Noiz came, huh?” His voice was wet and he cleared his throat nervously, gathering up the cards on his bedside and hands shaking on them as he tried to control himself, because if Sei was conscious he didn’t want him to know how broken he was over this. “Want me to read you your cards?” He knew not to wait for an answer, but he could tell Sei was more present today that he was sometimes, head shifting on the pillow awkwardly and black eyes turning his way blankly.

 

But it wasn’t long til he’d read them all and lapsed into silence again, mouth filled with saliva and eyes wet as he finished reading the messages of love that everybody had sent, wondering how many of them visited him on any other day. Aoba did as often as he could, but he couldn’t stand to see his brother like this so his visits were monthly or even less, Noiz visited most weeks but that was it really, everybody else had given up on him. Only Mizuki was left, visiting him almost every day, sometimes more than once and staying there until visiting hours were over or the nurses uncomfortably kicked him out.

“I um, asked about taking you out somewhere next week, maybe to the beach or something? You like it there… I…” He paused, because those eyes were still on him but they stared straight through him in the way they never had before, still gleaming with light but so dead he almost wished they were closed today. “It’d be nice to get out of here.”

His throat had closed up rapidly and Sei’s hand squirmed in his, twitching involuntarily as happened sometimes, almost like he was trying to squeeze it but just couldn’t, Mizuki’s eyes filling with tears because it must be so hard for him to be trapped like this, so frustrating.

“Maybe you’ll be awake for next year, yeah?” He asked, even though he knew it wasn’t going to happen, he’d said it to him twice already now and there had been no progress either backwards or forwards, he was just stuck here. “I um, I better go, visiting’s nearly over.”

He felt bad for making excuses, but he didn’t want to cry again and have the nurses try to comfort him without any effect, to see him broken down again and hysterical because he just wanted Sei back. “I’ll be back tomorrow, babe.” He was already crying when he leaned down for his goodbye kiss, hovering above his lips and wishing he could kiss back, shy and sweet the way he always used to, “I love you, so much.”

Then he had to leave, to walk through the hospital past the nurses who tried to offer him sympathetic smiles that did nothing to help him look better, because the prognosis was bad, he knew that, but he’d give anything for Sei to be back to normal again.

But then, there was always next year, his next birthday, maybe 30 would be the age where things would change.


	17. In Formal Wear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dressed to kill he might be, but Aoba would murder them if they so much as got a speck of blood on their shirts

"Can you believe they're actually getting married?"

"Nope, I didn't think the brat would ever do it."

"Koujaku, don't be mean, I think it's sweet."

"You would." Mizuki rolled his eyes exasperatedly, Sei had been overcome with the cuteness of the occasion for days now, eyes glinting in excitement. He had never been to a wedding before, but then again, neither had Mizuki, and he was practically bouncing as they all got into their suits at the venue, a stupidly expensive looking hotel in the newly opened Platinum Jail.

"How did Noiz afford this place..." Sei wondered aloud, glancing up at the elaborate crystal chandelier that hung from the ornately carved and painted ceilings high above them. The windows were wide and hung with red velvet drapes held open by golden tassels that matched the plush chairs that were scattered round the large marble fireplace and, hopefully fake, bear-skin rug attractively.

"His family's something big in Germany, his brother paid for most of it I think." Koujaku shrugged, blushing as Sei's eyebrow rose at his knowledge.

"So he made up with his family then?"

Koujaku shook his head, "just his little brother I think, Aoba didn't say but I get the feeling his parents still aren't interested."

"Well now he has me and Tae-san too, we'll be all the family he needs."

Mizuki had said how adorable Sei was before several times, but this heartfelt announcement made every heart in the room soften, and even brought a small smile from Mink's usually expressionless face.

"Sei-san is so sweet!" Clear swept into the room like a bubbly hurricane, seemingly just as thrilled as Sei as he clutched the last of the suits, his own, Sei's and Mizuki's, having recovered them from the room they had accidentally been delivered to, on the fourth floor.

The recipient of said comment flushed pale pink and pouted in embarrassment as the entire room smiled at him fondly, each wondering how he managed to be so kind after all he'd been through. "Mizu, should we go get ready now?"

Knowing his brothers shyness when it came to his body, Aoba had directed them to a smaller room leading off the main one, where he'd said he could change in private, before disappearing to get into his own tux, looking extremely queasy.

“You know,” Mizuki remarked casually as he examined his bow tie, wondering why on earth they hadn’t just gone with ties as he realised he had no idea how to tie it, shrugging and dumping it over the back of a chair in favour of ditching his shirt. “I kinda thought Aoba might throw up earlier.”

“Hm, he’s just nervous. It’s understandable I guess,” he replied, though he wasn’t entirely sure he did understand why he seemed so anxious that everything should go right, unless there was some kind of massive disaster like a fire, everything would go smoothly enough. “The more nervous he is the more likely something is to go wrong though.”

“That’s true, well with the amount of planning he’s done it should be fine. Noiz cancelled the rabbit petting zoo right?”

“Yeah, Aoba said it was stupid and Noiz went off in a sulk, it was quite cute,” he smiled, remembering how the German had promptly turned into the teenager he was, pouting and kicking the sofa on his way out, grumbling that it wasn’t fair.

“Hm, think Aoba’ll like our present?” The present of which he spoke was currently hidden under the table in the reception room where the cake was, happily munching on carrots and lettuce and hopefully not pooing all over its container.

“He’ll love her,” Sei enthused, knowing full well that having a pet rabbit was extremely different to having a rabbit petting zoo at your wedding like a mad person, besides, he had picked her specifically because she was friendly and cute. “She’s like the rabbit equivalent of Ren, and he won’t mind if Noiz likes her.”

“Mm, that’s true,” he remarked, remembering how he had momentarily been keen on the idea of just keeping her and buying another one for the couple, reminding himself it would be mean to have her live in an apartment and trying not to look too sad as Sei tied a green and blue bow on top of her carry case. “You’ve got your trousers on backwards.”

Sei glanced down at himself, cheeks flushing pink as he realised Mizuki was right, having been too distracted in their conversation to pay attention, suddenly realising that maybe they should be hurrying up, the ceremony would start soon and if they weren’t there Aoba would have a coronary. He pulled everything else on easily enough, feeling a bit odd and trapped in the formal black suit, green bow-tie suffocatingly tight around his neck and not sure he liked it even as he pinned the blue flower to his lapel. He supposed the black matched his hair and eyes well, pale skin looking almost ghostly against the harsh colour, wincing at his reflection in the mirror and chewing his lip, wishing they were at the after party already so he could change into comfortable jeans.

He sighed quietly, knowing his discomfort would be worth it, he’d get to see his brother married to the man he was head over heels in love with, and that would be worth any worries he might have, feeling a little selfish as he turned to see his boyfriend and his question died in his throat.

Mizuki looked amazing, sure he didn’t have his bow-tie on yet, staring at it like it was some kind of enigma he just couldn’t figure out, giving up to fix his cufflinks instead and if Sei was more of a romantic he’d say it was like something out of a bond film. In short, he looked gorgeous and Sei felt his cheeks turn a little pink because he looked really, really handsome, somehow more than usual.

“Need me to do that?” He asked, and he swore that when Mizuki looked up to meet his eye his heart skipped alarmingly in his chest, having to remind himself for a moment that this was his boyfriend, this horribly beautiful man was all his and suddenly he felt rather possessive.

“Please, I don’t know why they didn’t just go with ties,” he grumbled quietly, shushing as Sei swatted at him with the untied ends of the green material, stretching up just a little to situate it under his collar at the back and neatly tying it at the front like it was child’s play.

“Stop grumbling,” he ordered, though nicely, flattening down the collar of his jacket for him and smoothing down the front if not just as an excuse to touch him while he looked so good, certain Mizuki had caught on as he just smile and gave him a quick kiss. “You look really nice, I don’t think I’ve seen you in a suit before, they suit you.”

“Like it, do you?” Mizuki asked, and Sei knew from the teasing look in his eyes that he was probably about to torment him mercilessly, glad of the knock on the door that distracted them, Koujaku’s voice informing them that if they didn’t get out now, Aoba had threatened to murder both of them. Hollow threat or not, Sei didn’t much want to upset Aoba on his wedding day, slipping the ring box into his pocket and handing Mizuki the other one, hand yanking him back before he opened the door.

“You look nice too, so stop worrying,” and somehow just the knowledge that Mizuki understood what he hadn’t even said, gave him the confidence to smile, pushing open the door and emerging into the room where everybody else waited.

 

* * *

 

 

The ceremony seemed to pass in a blur, following his cue’s easily enough and handing over the rings when it was necessary, sniffing rather damply during the vows and wiping away a tear as several other people seemed to be doing. Aoba’s fears unfounded as the only mild blip was a moment when Noiz started to sway alarmingly, as if he was about to pass out, the expression on his twins face one of concern not annoyance as he immediately made sure he was okay. The gathered guests laughing as he blamed it on the heat of the room, something they all knew was a lie. He just glanced over at Mizuki, who stood on Aoba’s side of the room, giving him a small smile and receiving one back, olive eyes warm and happy, because sure he hadn’t been keen of Noiz at first, but he knew how damned perfect he was for Aoba, and he was honoured to be his best man.

But before Sei knew it they were married, rings on fingers and cheers leaving his throat even as he didn’t register them, taking in the couple’s wide grins and Aoba’s attempt to not cry as they headed back down the aisle to be alone until the after party later that evening.

 

* * *

 

 

 

The after party was much more his style, even if the music had become too loud almost immediately after the first dance, a song he didn’t recognise but which had been very pretty, glad nobody had commented on the tear he wiped away.

“Macarena?” Mizuki asked, eyebrows raised questioningly and looking so keen for Sei to actually get up and dance that he couldn’t help but grin back, noticing Aoba’s eyes scanning round with a frown until they locked on him and waved him over.

“Fine,” he groused, but really he didn’t mind too much, at least the routine was easy enough, even if it was horribly boring and remarkably dull, it’d keep Aoba and his boyfriend happy and that was all that mattered. So he let Mizuki grab his hand and drag him onto the dancefloor, pleased to see that there were only a few people sitting on the side-lines, Tae-san sitting with Yoshie and looking remarkably bothered by her wagging jaw, and Mink stood against the wall while Clear talked to him enthusiastically. It was one less concern anyway, he’d feel less like an idiot if everybody else was dancing like one too, especially since they’d all be dancing exactly the same.

Not only did the song last a horrifically long time, but he became increasing aware that he looked like a moron as he continued, very glad as the song finally ended and he could fix Mizuki a glare that meant he hoped he was happy he’d even tried.

“Fun, right?”

“Not particularly,” he replied, but it was good natured, this was a happy occasion after all and he had to admit that he felt just as overjoyed as Aoba and Noiz seemed to be, glancing up to the head table to see Noiz carefully reconstructing Aoba’s ponytail.

Mizuki just laughed, managing to avoid Clear’s attempts to trap them on the dancefloor with a smart turn of his heel and a hand on the small of Sei’s back, leading them back to their table safely unbothered. “Drink?”

“Mm-hm,” he nodded, knowing Mizuki would know what to get him, and even if he did get something other than the diet coke he’d been drinking it all night, he was likely to enjoy it anyway since Mizuki knew all of his dislikes.

His eyes kept flitting to Mizuki even though he tried to pull them away, horribly distracted by the way his bow tie sat around his neck, undone now and soft material just left to trace the undone buttons of his shirt, sleeves pulled up over his forearms and strong skin contrasting the white beautifully. Damn, Mizuki in a suit was a sight for sore eyes for sure.

 

* * *

 

 

 

If Sei was a little drunk by the time he got home, he blamed his boyfriend completely for buying him alcopops instead of the soda he’d expected, though he couldn’t really complain, he was warm where Mizuki carried him through the streets and everything was just a little funnier. He was only tipsy so it wasn’t like he felt horrible or anything, he’d hugged Aoba and Noiz goodbye, telling them to have a nice honeymoon and managing not to cry over the thought of his brother so happy.

 

* * *

 

 

“That was awesome,” Mizuki remarked, flopping onto the couch tiredly and unbuttoning his shirt collar with one hand, the other running through his hair, long night and more than a few drinks making him utterly exhausted.

“Tired?” Sei asked, neatly hanging up his jacket and joining him a second later, thoroughly exhausted himself, having danced more than he ever had in his life, legs shaky under him with over-exertion.

“Mm, a bit,” he nodded, snuggling onto his boyfriends chest and lying there, almost feeling himself falling asleep, at least until he spoke, a hand running through his hair soothingly.

“How’d you like being a best man then?” He asked, recalling fondly the day Mizuki had re-entered the apartment after a night out to find Sei crying because Noiz wanted him to be his best man, he’d taken a good half hour to calm down and even then he was still obviously so touched it only took something tiny to set him off again.

“Hm, I think I liked it. I liked standing at the front with them,” he really meant with Mizuki, who stood beside Aoba as his best man, because apparently Koujaku had just missed the cut due, able to see him there in his suit and share a smile with him as they recited their vows. “It was almost like we were the ones getting married,” he mumbled it, like he was too afraid to say it aloud for fear Mizuki would freak out or something, and to be honest, the idea did scare him a little.

“Oh? Yeah I guess it was,” he nodded, sinking back into the cushions and just moving his arm so Sei could wrap it around himself when he joined him. “Our wedding’s going to be much better though.”

Whether he realised what he’d said or if it was the alcohol talking, Sei didn’t know, but he hid his smile in Mizuki’s crumpled shirt, because what could be better than marrying him, even if it was years away?


	18. Doing Something Sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silver like sugar and twice as sweet

“Tio, can we talk a minute?”

He looked mildly taken aback by the sudden question but nodded anyway, lowering the jacket he was about to pull on, “yeah sure, what’s up?”

“Um, sit down,” he seemed nervous and Tio was more than a little confused, wondering if maybe something was wrong, if he’d done something wrong, but then why would Sei be telling him? But he just followed him over to the huddle of couches away from the main bar and sat down, watching as Sei played with his hands absently, pointer sliding over the nail of the thumb anxiously.

“Is something wrong?”

“No,” he shook his head and managed a not very convincing laugh, averting his eyes quickly. “I um, I want to ask you something.”

“Okay,” he nodded, because whatever it was must be serious given how almost scared he looked, biting at his lip and not meeting his eye, taking a breath before he looked up and expression almost firm, like he was determined about something.

“It’s more I want to ask your permission for something,” he clarified, and he must have seen Tio’s growing befuddlement because he didn’t give him time to wonder what in the hell he’d need Tio’s permission to do. Taking a deep breath and all trembles in his voice gone as he spoke, “I want to ask Mizuki to marry me.”

If he fell silent it was more in shock than anything else, words taking a second to sink in, because Sei was asking him permission to propose to Mizuki, not only was he somewhat lost as to what he had to do with this, but he felt a little surprised. “ _Y-You_ want to propose?”

Sei smiled at this, genuine but still a little nervous, “I know people expect him to, I dunno, I just… I really want to surprise him with it, I guess.”

Sei was right, Tio and probably most other people would have expected Sei to wait for Mizuki to propose, somehow it just seemed right that it would happen that way, that the bartender would be the one buying the ring and getting down on one knee. Tio didn’t respond for a second and Sei’s embarrassment faded, realising he needed to answer and overcoming his shock so rapidly he almost burst with enthusiasm, “I… oh wow, Sei, holy shit, this is great!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re going to propose!” He felt like he couldn’t hold his happiness in, hands almost flailing as they alternated between covering his mouth and a sort of odd flapping motion in front of his chest.

“Shh!” Sei was laughing but his eyes were wide as if fearing the bartender would hear him through the ceiling somehow, grinning as Tio pulled a rather unattractive expression of realisation, gritting his teeth apologetically and veins of his throat standing out. “So, do I have your permission?”

“God yes! Of course you do!” Because why on earth would Tio stand between them? Sure he’d once been in love with Mizuki, but those days were gone, he’d met somebody else now, somebody he thought he really liked, plus seeing the bartender so happy with Sei just meant he couldn’t bring himself to be jealous. “But, why are you asking me?”

His smile dimmed a little as if he’d expected to be asked that, shrugging with one shoulder, “well he doesn’t have parents for me to ask, and you’re like his brother, I sorta thought you were the next best thing to family.”

He felt his breath catch in his throat and for a second his eyes felt hot like he might cry, not sure anybody had compared him to Mizuki’s family before, wondering if Sei really saw him that way, almost as Mizuki’s adopted brother. His throat was thick when he spoke, almost croaky with emotion, “fucking hell, Sei, of course you have my permission. You didn’t even need to ask.”

“I know, I just… I wanted to do things properly.” He nodded, as if reaffirming his resolve because his jittery movements made sense now, of course he was nervous, he was about to ask his boyfriend to marry him, anybody would be nervous.

“Do you have rings?” They weren’t really necessary, he knew full well that Mizuki would accept without needing any kind of symbol to affirm it as fact, just Sei asking would be enough for him, if he wasn’t too surprised to even respond.

He looked taken aback for a second, then regained his bearings and nodded, reaching into his pocket to remove the small velvet box Tio had expected, handing it over and noting the gentle way he handled it as he flicked it open. Inside, on a bed of what was probably silk, lay two rings, both on thin chains of matching silver, he was as careful as he could be as he slid one out of the box to look at it closer, taking in the twisted design of the ring, an eternity symbol.

“I, um, didn’t really know what guys did about rings, I thought if he didn’t want to wear it on his hand it could be a necklace instead.” He sounded uncertain but Tio was quick to offer him a reassuring smile, carefully placing the ring back into the box and clicking it shut, handing it back over to Sei who ran his thumb across the lid tenderly.

“I don’t know either, but I know he’d wear anything you bought for him,” because Mizuki wouldn’t care if it wasn’t manly or traditional for him to wear an engagement ring, or if only one of them was supposed to have one, if Sei proposed to him and he said yes, and of course he’d say yes, he’d wear the ring for everyone to see. “They’re gorgeous, Sei, but… How did you afford them?”

He didn’t have a job, or any real form of income other than Mizuki or the occasional payment as a result of whatever craft project he was into that month, so how he’d managed to buy two fairly expensive looking rings was beyond him, and he was definitely too smart to use Mizuki’s bank card, which Tio knew he had access to.

He smiled a little sheepishly at this and Tio had to admit his curiosity was piqued, “well you know I buy the groceries and stuff?” He just nodded, beginning to work it out himself and wondering how long Sei had been planning this without telling anyone. “I normally spend about ¥14700 a week, so I just started spending a little less, holding back about ¥1800 or maybe ¥2750 if I could. I just used my coil to move it into my account every week and it built up.”

“I… How long have you been doing that?”

“Um, probably about six months?” Tio’s eyebrows were somewhere in his hairline and Sei’s smile was almost proud, as if he was impressed at how secretive he’d been with this. “I only wanted to save about ¥36800 at first, but then I saw them and I just… I knew they were the right ones, so I just waited a little longer til I could afford them.”

He was about to ask something, but Sei continued speaking, frowning just slightly, “I would’ve gotten nicer ones, but it’s his money technically, and these aren’t the proper rings, so…”

He could tell he was working himself into a panic, albeit only a mild one, maybe doubting his decision, at least until Tio shifted across the sofa to wrap his hands around both his and the small box nestled between them. “Stop. He’ll love them, Sei. He won’t care how much they cost, or that he technically paid, okay? I mean, you’ll have just proposed, he won’t be thinking about anything but you, hm?”

His words were firm but reassuring, and Sei paused for a second to take a deep, steadying breath, reminding himself that he was just scared because he was nervous and that, as Tio had said, Mizuki would love it even if he proposed with a candy ring. “Yeah you’re right, I’m just so nervous… It’s like it’s suddenly real.”

“Mm, I can’t imagine,” and he really couldn’t, because fuck it was one of the biggest things you could ever do, to propose, even if you were in a committed, long term relationship, because what if the other wasn’t ready? Or felt no need to get married, to prove their love? It could lead to a misunderstanding that could completely destroy even the strongest couple, but Tio knew damn well that Mizuki wouldn’t even think of saying no. “When are you gunna do it?”

“Tonight,” he spoke, biting at his lip nervously and laugh a little wobbly, a tad too hysterical and he looked suddenly terrified, like he was suddenly facing off with a bear or a hungry lion had him cornered. “I’ve um, had the rings a couple weeks, trying to find the right time to ask you.”

He smiled softly, because they both knew that Sei could have asked whenever and it was more his own doubts than anything Tio had done that stopped him asking earlier. “Are you going to do something special?”

“Mm,” he chewed his lip again, because he’d thought about it, thought about waiting a month for their fourth anniversary and popping the question then, or of doing something romantic, going out for dinner and doing it after, or taking him to the beach at sunset. But they weren’t really like that, sure they were romantic in their own way, but the idea of building it up into a huge event made snakes swim in his stomach and he felt sick just imagining doing it in a packed restaurant. “Not really, I thought about it but… I think I’m just going to ask him, I don’t even think I’ll get down on one knee. I don’t really want to, it’s a bit cliché.”

He was right about that, the whole thing of proposal had always seemed a little awkward to Tio, because how were you meant to focus on the moment, on this huge fucking question, this enormous, life altering statement from somebody you loved, if you were surrounded by strangers? He didn’t like the idea of not being able to have the privacy to react truthfully, because even though Mizuki wasn’t the crying type, surely he’d be more likely to let himself react that way in the privacy of their own home. And hell, even though it wasn’t the case, who would say no when they were thronged by people awaiting a happy yes? Being down on one knee was stupid too, he wasn’t sure where it had come from or why, but he knew he’d want to be eye level with somebody were he ever to propose, so he could see their eyes and maybe kiss them if they said yes, not having to ease himself off the floor like a twat.

“I guess I just have to worry if he’ll say yes,” and his eyes seemed the tiniest bit damp, as if just the thought of Mizuki refusing him was enough to bring him to tears, which in all honesty would be totally reasonable and very understandable. His worry, his sheer terror, faded though as Tio whacked him across the head, albeit not hard, with the magazine he’d been taking home with him, frowning disapprovingly, almost disappointed in the doubts Sei seemed to have, though he did understand them and knew Sei was aware how illogical they were.

He let out a tiny noise of alarm, startled expression producing an amusing series of chins he never normally had as he instinctively moved away from the source of his attack, who just regarded him like a naughty child. “You’re being stupid, of course he’ll say yes. There’s literally no way he’d ever say no, believe me.” But his expression softened as Sei’s eyes did, watching the dark orbs flood with hope because all he’d needed was the reassurance from somebody who knew them well, to be told how illogical he was being and to be told, firmly, to not let himself believe such crap. “He loves you more than anything, Sei. Hell, I’m surprised he hasn’t asked you himself yet.”

“I’m kinda glad I got there first though,” for a second Tio was worried he’d said something wrong, because that had almost made it sound like Mizuki was avoiding it, when really it was none of his business whether the bartender ever proposed.

“Me too, so don’t worry about it. Go up there, ask however the hell you want, and when you’re done celebrating, text me.” He’d already stood from the couch, he was going to be late to meet his… friend at this rate, and although it wasn’t exactly a planned date, they both knew it may as well be, Sei standing too and tucking the box back into his pocket. “Okay?”

“Okay,” he nodded, managing a steady smile as he met Tio’s blue eyes, unable to hide his excitement and mouth growing into an almost stupid grin that Tio just mirrored, pulling him into a hug easily.

“Ah, I can’t believe it! My little Sei, all grown up!” He was joking, and Sei took it in good humour, just letting Tio’s arms wrap around him tight, squeezing firmly and so warm, moving away a minute later to hold him at arm’s length, smiling ecstatically. “Oh, he’s gunna be so happy.”

It was obvious Sei appreciated that, expression softening eyes widening only a little when Tio planted a fierce kiss on his forehead, blue orbs mysteriously damp as he turned to leave, obviously wanting to hide his overwhelming emotions, because all he’d ever wanted was for Mizuki to be happy, and Sei knew exactly how to do that.

 

* * *

 

 

He was trying to forget about it, and all things considered he’d managed it rather well, they’d ordered takeaway and stuffed themselves on it as usual, and had watched an entire film, Mizuki’s head pillowed in Sei’s lap and pale fingers playing with his hair. But now there was a break before they were meant to watch his choice, and he suddenly decided he wanted to do it now, before it started and he opted to not even do it today and to wait longer. Mizuki had headed into the kitchen to grab them drinks, a beer for him and a diet soda for Sei, and he knew he’d ask when he came back, feeling for the rings down the side of the sofa and tucking them into his pocket just as Mizuki emerged.

“You pick a film yet, babe?” He asked, opening his drink for him and placing it onto the coffee table in front of him, noting the DVD box on the table and gathering that he had, “never mind, you really want to watch this again?”

“It’s cute,” he remarked, because yes he’d seen it a lot of times already, but that was only because he really liked it, and he knew Mizuki did too despite how much he complained.

“Okay,” he shrugged, like Sei knew he would, immediately obvious how much he didn’t care as he just wrapped an arm around his shoulder and began to look for the remote, Sei knowing he had to act now as he sighed exasperatedly, not noticing it tucked in beside his boyfriend.

“Mizuki, can I ask you something?” He tried to keep his voice steady, and Mizuki didn’t seem to notice anything wrong as he angled his head a little so he could see him, creating an amusing roll of neck fat Sei had to fight the urge to poke.

“Sure, what’s up, princess?”

He paused for only a second, taking in the reassuring weight, the soothing warmth of Mizuki at his side, remembering firm blue eyes and certain words and solidifying his resolve, sliding the box out of his pocket. His hands didn’t even shake as he managed to open it, the bartender not quite able to see at this angle.

At least until he twisted in his hold, eyes focused still on him rather than the faint glint of silver in his fingers, breathing deeply through his nose, “marry me?”

There was silence for a second, the bartenders face morphing from amused disbelief, to realisation, then back to disbelief again, voice alarmingly blank as he spoke, like he was so surprised he had no idea what was happening, “what?”

“Will you marry me?” He asked again, and now his voice began to tremble, letting Mizuki take the box from him and only missing his touch a little as he moved away so he could see him properly, taking in the slight shake of his lip and his pupils blown wide.

He breathed out and it was soft and disbelieving and his lips turned up into a smile he couldn’t seem to stop as he took in the rings, finger trailing over the cool metal bands before he looked back up at Sei almost as if he was going to cry, “really?”

“Really.” He nodded, and now he was more certain, because his boyfriend’s hesitation wasn’t due to reluctance or awkwardness or anything else, his hands were trembling on the box and his next swallow was thick, lips spread wide.

There was silence again for just a moment, a still bit of silence where they both just stared at each other before Mizuki laughed and Sei did too and he suddenly had armfuls of his boyfriend and a face in his neck and laughter in his ear.

“Of course I will! Oh fuck, Sei, of course I will!” He barely had time to hug him back before he’d moved away just as fast and his hands were warm on his cheeks and he was kissing him and nearly missing, clumsy and hands shaking like mad and mouth in a smile against his even as they weren’t quite in synch. Mizuki drawing back then kissing him again and again like he couldn’t quite register it for long enough to focus on anything to long, pecking at his lips awkwardly as they both grinned wide and laughed wild and free and so fucking happy. “Oh shit, of course I’ll marry you!”

Then it all sank in and Sei’s eyes were suddenly wet and his next laugh was shaky and a little hysterical as warm tears slipped down his cheeks, happy tears, ecstatic tears, because of _course_ Mizuki was going to say yes, he’d known that all along but now that he had somehow it was more amazing than he’d expected it to be and he felt so unprepared for the emotions that were flooding him. “Really?” Now it was his turn to ask, knowing he meant it, just like he always meant everything he said to Sei, whole hearted and honest and truthful, but some part of him felt like this was all some crazy dream and he’d wake up with the rings still hidden under the mattress and nerves thick in his gut.

“Really, I’d marry you right now if I could,” that wasn’t entirely what he’d meant to say, but Sei had wrapped arms around him tighter than ever before anyway and he knew that he understood him perfectly despite his clumsy words. Just holding him back and not even knowing what to say, what to do with the ball of excitement and love and joy in his chest that threatened to overwhelm him, knowing Sei was crying but making no attempts to stop him because he knew these were happy tears, relieved, reassured. “Oh, I love you so much.”

The words were whispered into his hair as they had been so many times before, but Sei still heard them, murmured them back against his soft neck where he hid his face, sniffing thickly, thinking they meant more now than ever before, “I love you too.”

“It’s a good thing _I_ didn’t buy rings, huh?” He asked, and Sei’s eyes were drying now but he still felt like he might burst into tears at any moment, not sure why other than that he was overwhelmed right now and that was the only way he knew to manage it.

“Mm,” he nodded, letting Mizuki wipe his face clean with a thumb and kiss him again, neatly this time, soft and tender against his lips, lingering for a moment to just hold their faces close together and breathe the same air, to ground himself. “Were you going to?”

“I was thinking about it, for our anniversary,” he explained, but he didn’t seem upset that Sei had beat him to it and he was grateful for that, knowing some people would find it odd that the less dominant one in the relationship was the one to propose, but he knew Mizuki didn’t give a single shit about that. “You really took me by surprise, you know?”

“Sorry,” he apologised even though he wasn’t sorry, eyes flickering to the box of rings on the sofa between them then back up to Mizuki, carefully removing one from the box, chain dangling from it. “I didn’t know if it’ll fit your finger, so I figured if it didn’t-“

“Sei,” and it was the same tone Tio had used, the one that said he was being silly and letting his insecurities rule him, fingers overlapping his on the ring the same way Tio’s had. “They’re perfect.”

And like that all his worries were gone, fingers steady as they unclasped the chain and Mizuki leaned forwards so he could place it around his neck, struggling to do it up only a little until he shifted so he could see what he was doing. Then it was in place, resting around his tanned skin, thin silver chain contrasting his olive complexion perfectly, ring above his t-shirt glinting in the dim light, like it belonged there, like it always had. The smile Sei offered him was pleased, cheeks puffed up with the force of his smile and eyes fond as he bit his lip to try and restrain the urge to laugh again, because it felt like if he did he might never stop.

“Does yours fit?” He asked, but he’d already undone the clasp, waiting for the answer as if deciding where to place the ring, on his finger where he felt it kinda belonged, matching his cool white skin, or round his neck where it could nestle between his collarbones.

“Mm,” he nodded and held his hand out without needing prompt, watching how carefully Mizuki placed the chain back in the box, putting it safely on the coffee table before taking his hand and sliding the ring onto his finger where it fit perfectly. Keeping his hand cradled in his, running his thumb over his palm and smile softer now than the manic grin of earlier.

“It looks good,” he sighed, but it was warm and affectionate and Sei still couldn’t believe this was happening. “I feel like I should have done that a long time ago.”

He chuckled at that, softly, moving his hand to lace his fingers with Mizuki, cold metal warmed up almost instantly, looking so insignificant on his finger but holding so much meaning he knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop staring at it for a long time. “Don’t think Aoba would have liked it if you stole his thunder.”

“Hm, true,” but then his face changed and he looked inquisitive, Sei raising an eyebrow at his sudden change in disposition. “Does he know?”

Sei shook his head immediately, he knew Aoba might be upset that Sei didn’t tell him his plans, but he knew he’d understand, he was married himself now, surely he’d know that some things were meant to keep private. “No, oh, but that reminds me, I have to text Tio.”

“How come?”

“Oh, um, I promised I’d tell him what you said,” that slightly implied he’d thought Mizuki might say no, but the other just rolled his eyes at the idea, squeezing his hand, his ring finger, as if to remind him that he had in fact, said yes, would never have said anything else.

“ _Tio_ knows?” Because of all the people he thought Sei might have told his plans to, Tio was a fair distance down the list, way below Noiz, Aoba and most of Sei’s other friends.

“Yeah, I kinda um, asked him for permission.”

“Tio? Why’d you ask him?” There was laughter in his voice and he looked baffled, nose crinkled up in confusion because to him, it was an utterly bizarre thing to have done, to ask permission seemed old fashioned anyway without Sei having asked his best friend of all people.

Sei’s expression made it seem like it was obvious, smile warm and voice soft as he shrugged minutely with one shoulder, “he’s your family.”

The tattooists expression faltered in an instant and his heart seemed to stutter, chest suddenly tight and his throat thick as he tried to chuckle and it came out horribly shaky and breathy even to his own ears, “oh shit, Sei, you’re gunna make me cry.” But his eyes were already wet as he spoke, horribly hot like they were burning and a couple of tears leaking out unbidden, and he almost didn’t know why it had hit him so hard, but somehow Sei just knew exactly what to do to make this so fucking perfect and he was so lucky to have him. He’d lowered his head as if ashamed of his tears, but of course Sei wouldn’t let him get away with that, using his own sleeve to wipe his cheeks dry and kissing his forehead as he sniffed weakly.

“Don’t cry,” he smiled, as if he hadn’t been doing the same earlier, just watching his boyfriend compose himself, understanding because family had always meant so much to him, and knowing that Sei got that meant a fucking lot. “Come on, we have to tell him the good news.”

 

* * *

 

 

One carefully arranged photo later, Sei stood behind his ~~boyfriend~~ fiancé with his arms around his neck and both rings in plain sight, only just shinier than the grins on both faces, and the news was broken, to Tio at least, planning to tell the others slightly more officially.

The happy couple couldn’t hear the scream from the other side of the Island, the ecstatic yells of “he said yes! He said yes!”, nor could they see the kiss Tio had planted on his more than slightly surprised date, too focused on each other and Sei’s film completely forgotten about.


	19. Eating ice-cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Godzilla might be hard to defeat, but Bridezilla? Far simpler

"Hey Aoba, you know Noiz pretty well, right?"

He blinked at the strange question, then nodded and sipped at his coffee, glancing down absently at what looked horrifyingly like a wedding mood board, assuming from Mizuki’s less than thrilled expression that they were in the middle of wedding plans. "I'd hope so, I'm married to him."

"Oh yeah, sometimes I forget, well anyway, does he seem to you like the kind of person who would order pizza to our wedding reception?"

"100% yes."

Sei’s face paled and he stood abruptly, grabbing his coil and a messy piece of paper covered in numbers and scribblings out and notes, a tone of alarm in his voice as he began filtering

through the papers that covered the dining table. "I need to call the caterer."

"And we need some normal friends, no offence Aoba."

"None taken,” he was very aware his husband was an abnormality if ever there were one, but his love for all things Italian food was a little endearing now, and they’d had pizza at their wedding so it made sense Sei and Mizuki would do the same. Reaching out and picking up a loose sheaf of papers, regarding the varied information on them, one featuring a neat list of dates by which they needed to have everything sorted and another with several swatches of fabric attached to it. “So how is the planning going?"

"Pretty well, nobody has cried or thrown stuff yet but there's still time."

“Nobody is going to throw anything! And don’t touch that, you’ll mess it up,” his voice was a little snappy and Aoba just met Mizuki’s eye and gave him a look the bartender returned, mildly alarmed expression fading into fondness as Sei neatened the pile and handed it to him, kissing his head absently as the caterer picked up and his pizza related panic was focused on somebody else.

“So, will you be crying or him?” The fact he lowered his voice to ensure Sei wouldn’t hear was a little amusing, and Mizuki had to admit that wedding stressed Sei was a little intimidating even if he didn’t intend to be, just relaxing into his chair and fingering the papers he held lazily.

“Honestly? Probably both of us, this is more stress than I anticipated. I just want it to be perfect for him, you know?”

“Perfect for both of you, you mean.” Mizuki shrugged, because while he was obviously looking forward to it, he couldn’t help but feel that he’d agree to anything as long as Sei was happy, he’d never really anticipated getting married so he had no picture of how he’d like it to go, but Sei seemed to and he wanted to make his ideas a reality. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s not going to be perfect. My wedding wasn’t, but it didn’t matter, what matters is that you’re getting married. Just don’t forget that.”

“Mm, that’s good advice, thanks, Aoba. But you’re meant to be meeting Noiz soon.”

“Oh yeah, okay, I’ll see you both soon then?” Mizuki nodded, standing to let him out and collecting their empty mugs on the way, hearing Sei in the kitchen debating with the caterer how much pizza would be necessary, explaining it was only really intended for one guest. “If you need any help me and Noiz are always around.”

“Yeah, thanks, Aoba, we’ll be fine, he’ll burn out soon.” Aoba just raised his eyebrows as if debating the truth of that statement, just raising a hand in a wave as he left just in time for Sei to reappear looking tired and stressed, pushing his hair out of his face and writing down something neatly before flopping back into the sofa. “Wanna take a break?”

“Mm-hm, we can do more tomorrow,” Sei smiled, accepting the takeaway leaflet Mizuki handed him and snuggling into his side when he plopped down next to him, bartender hiding a smile at how well he knew his fiancé.

 

* * *

 

 

"Do we really need to do invites? Can't we just ask people?"

"We need numbers for the caterer, I've told you this already."

"Yeah I know, but do I seriously have to write one of these for each one of my guys? You know there's like a million of them, right?" He held up the stack of invites he’d been told to address, one to each member of Dry Juice since he may as well invite them all, though most would probably just come to the reception instead of the actual ceremony, but either way it was a lot of names to have to write and his hand was cramping.

"You're exaggerating. But fine, just make sure they each get one and tell them to write their own names on them."

"You're the best."

"I know, that's why you're marrying me." He didn’t respond to that, just kissed him and offered to help with putting the invites he was writing into envelopes, flushing a little under the beaming smile that was directed at him, overflowing with gratitude that he was trying to be so involved, as if this wasn’t his wedding too.

 

* * *

 

 

"Okay guys, everyone take a wedding invite and don't forget to RSVP or Sei will kill me,” there was some chuckling at that even as people began to approach and take them from the stack on the bar, flipping them open to read or tucking them carefully into pockets. “Apparently the caterer needs numbers or something, but I think that's crap so just do what Sei says and everything will be fine."

"Is that going to be in your vows?"

"Yes, Mizuki, is it?" The voice was a little teasing and even the mocking whistles of the team behind him didn't stop him from looking at least mildly sheepish as he turned to see his fiancé and the topic of his less than sensitive comment standing behind him with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Um, no?"

"Oh good,” his smile was a little thin and snakelike, but it was definitely a front he was putting on to embarrass Mizuki in front of his team, displeasure fading to a normal expression as he continued. “But anyway I need you to go to the tailor and pick out ties for the groomsmen."

"Right, wait why am I doing that?" He was immediately surprised that Sei had let him choose something, or on his own at any rate, seeing as they’d so far picked things together or he’d just left it all to Sei.

"Because I'm sure you'll make a good choice, nothing too bright or flashy and no muddy colours please. Red or burgundy would be nice."

"You know, I feel like I'm not choosing at all."

"How very astute of you, now get going, I'll deal with this,” he took the stack of cards then and Mizuki snorted as his eyes began scanning the room, realising some people must be yet to take one and frowning, Tio actually looking nervous because pre-wedding Sei was scary.

"Yes dear,” he was trying to be teasing too, but he ended up sounding like a trodden on husband, ironically enough, as he pecked Sei’s cheek and headed out, shouldering his jacket and bidding his team goodbye shortly, leaving them in Sei’s claw like grip.

 

* * *

 

 

But the scale tipped down rapidly and Mizuki began wondering if Aoba had known something he hadn’t, not entirely sure what he’d done wrong exactly but aware Sei was suddenly yelling about him all because of some throwaway comment he’d made about table decorations.

“Don’t you even care? This is your wedding too Mizuki! Or do you not even want to get married at all?”

“Sei what the hell! I’m trying to help here what are you yelling at me for?”

“No you’re not trying to help at all! You’re letting me choose everything!”

“Because I don’t care as much as you do!”

That had been the wrong thing to say, it was obvious even as it slipped out and Sei’s face changed from angry to upset, taking a step backwards as if that would reverse his stupid words, panic filling him as Sei just opened his mouth again and he knew he’d fucked up.

“You don’t care? Then why the fuck are we doing all this? God I shouldn’t have even proposed! I should have waited for you because you obviously don’t want this too!”

“Sei that’s not what I-“

“I’m going out,” his voice was wet and Mizuki’s attempt to grab him didn’t work, just cringing as the apartment door slammed horribly loudly, rubbing a hand over his face because he’d known they might fight during this process but he never thought it would get so bad that Sei would doubt everything.

He sat there for a while, in front of the door, cursing himself for wording his thoughts so badly and upsetting his fiancé, deciding on a whim to phone Aoba, hoping he’d understand and be able to give him some advice, hanging up feeling a little better. Aoba and Sei were really very similar, and he never remembered that, but finding out that he and Noiz had almost the exact same argument made him feel so much better, thanking him vehemently before he hung up.

 

* * *

 

 

“Sei?” He’d arrived back while Mizuki was in the shower, and now he’d dried himself off and redressed his first concern was fixing things, having gone to the freezer in a bizarre attempt to make him smile since it always used to be the cure when he was upset. There was no response when he knocked on the door and he went in anyway, finding Sei curled up at his side of the bed, covers pulled up over his knees and resting his chin on them, cheeks wet with tear tracks. “I- You want some ice-cream?”

“I don’t think ice-cream is going to fix _this_.”

“It’s chunky monkey. Your favourite,” his expression changed a little then, but he still sighed and looked away and Mizuki lowered the tub with a sigh of his own, climbing onto the bed next to him and sitting there silently. “At least let me explain.”

“Explain what, how you don’t care as much as I do?”

He sighed then but it was out of irritation more than anything else, annoyed Sei was still being like this, rubbing a hand hard down his face and gritting his teeth so he wouldn’t start shouting and making things worse, voice still a little snappy. “I wasn’t talking about the wedding, I was talking about the centrepieces.” Sei glanced up then and took the spoon he was offered, staring at it blankly with red-tinged eyes and sniffing a little, staying silent and waiting for Mizuki to continue, remembering what Aoba had told him and feeling like his words now were vital.

“I don’t- No, that’s not right. It’s not that I don’t care about the wedding, of course I do, it’s important and I get that. I’m just not as bothered with the details, the napkin holders and the colour of the balloons, it doesn’t really bother me. And I’m trying to care because I know you do, but if one tie is a different colour or… Or one person doesn’t RSVP I don’t think I’ll care.”

“If you didn’t want a big wedding you could have said.”

“No, that’s not it either, sure I don’t want something huge, but I know you do, you know how you want it to look or whatever but I never really thought about it.”

“So you really don’t care?”

“I care because when we walk out of that building we’ll be married, okay? You’ll be my husband and I’ll be yours. I care that I’ll get to spend the rest of my life with you, I care less about napkin rings. So you have to care about those for me.” He paused then, opening the ice-cream and removing the lid, handing it to Sei without prompt and watching as he shoved a spoonful into his mouth, a clear sign he was calming down. “We could get married in a junkyard and I wouldn’t mind as long as we ended up married. I really want to marry you, Sei, I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t.”

Sei didn’t respond, he just stared at the thin chain that hung around Mizuki’s neck, watching the ring where it sat neatly on his chest above his shirt, sighing tiredly and deflating a little bit, nodding slowly and biting his lip as his eyes flooded again.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say any of that. I- I felt like you weren’t listening to me.”

“I know, I’m sorry too,” he leaned over to thumb his face dry and kiss his forehead softly, brushing hair out of his face and pulling him into his shoulder, feeling him nestle against his side. “I’ll try to be more interested from now on, okay? But you’re doing what Aoba did, you’re stressing out too much, you won’t enjoy any of it if you’re so tense about it being perfect.”

“Oh God, I’m a Bridezilla, aren’t I?”

“Hm, a little, but you’re _my_ Bridezilla. Now come on, stop hogging the ice-cream.”

“So your loving gesture of apology, is _half_ a tub of ice-cream?”

“Sure is, besides, if you eat too much you won’t fit in your dress.”

“I’m not wearing a dress.”

“How do you know? We haven’t decided what we’re wearing yet.”

He sensed Sei’s alarm before he so much as moved, just gripping his arm as he made to spring upright as if he could get their suits sorted at eleven at night, “Hey! Relax, we can do it tomorrow. Take tonight off, alright? Just try to forget about it.”

He shifted then, spooning himself out some ice-cream and getting an absent thought, regarding his fiancé thoughtfully as he took rather a foolishly large mouthful of the chocolate concoction, watching him regret it as he rubbed his head with a pained expression.

“You know if you ever become lactose intolerant we’ll totally end up getting divorced.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I always use ice-cream to solve our arguments.”

“They make lactose free ice-cream.”

“Oh, then we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, we will.” Then Sei wrapped an arm around him and he really believed his words, nuzzling into his hair and watching as he repeated his mistake and ate too much ice-cream again, some things never changed after all.


	20. In Battle, side by side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friendly competition losing it's meaning when you both have guns

“You know,” he kept his voice casual, adjusting his vest so maybe it wouldn’t dig into his shoulders as much, giving up after a moment and dark eyes observing the room instead, taking in the hiding places and the passages that led to unknown locations. “Technically we’re meant to have separate stag parties.”

“I know, but I wanted you to come too, besides, we’re splitting up tonight aren’t we?” This at least was true, Mizuki was joining all the Dry Juice guys in the bar tonight where they’d get suitably drunk, then head into town for a more traditional stag do. Sei, however, had decided to have a more chilled version, almost more of a hen night than anything else, Noiz was coming over to their apartment and they were going to eat pizza and watch films and basically do what they normally did. Sei didn’t really drink much and he knew that after this was over he’d be far too exhausted to do much but sit down and talk, in fact he was secretly hoping Noiz would be a good enough sport to join him in a facemask.

“Hm, we should at least be on different teams then,” he reasoned, adjusting his legs where they crouched down behind the empty wooden barrels that were littered around the complex, waiting for the electronic voice that would count down to the start of the first game.

“I didn’t want to shoot at you,” he frowned like it was obvious, gesturing to the gun in his hand and shrugging apologetically, thinking that he’d much rather be on Sei’s team than have to try and beat him, he didn’t much like that idea.

Sei’s blink was slow and disbelieving, because honestly that was a sweet explanation, but it was also utterly ridiculous considering the context that had brought them here, crouching lower in the dark and admiring the glow in the dark graffiti that adorned the walls. “Mizuki they’re lasers, it’s not like we went paintballing.”

“Although I would have liked to,”

Sei was about to say that they could go another time, when a loud electronic voice cut over his speech and he fell silent, feeling a mixture of anxious and excited as it began the countdown from ten, adjusting his grip on the large plastic gun. His vest was a little heavy and he had the feeling it would only hinder him as he tried to evade the shots of the other team, though he wasn’t very competitive to begin with, so he wouldn’t really mind if he lost horribly, even if just to save somebody else having to.

He knew the minute the voice counted down to three that the atmosphere had changed, Mizuki was tensed up beside him like a coiled spring and he waited only a second longer to whisper a quick good luck and press a kiss onto his cheek. Then the ‘game start’ voice boomed across the arena and he vaulted over the barrels so quickly and nimbly that all Sei could do was stare in disbelief for a second, certain now that he was no match for anybody here.

The teams had been picked out of a hat, except for Sei of course, who Mizuki had insisted be on his team, coloured red. Koujaku too ended up with them, and the opposite team consisted of Aoba, Noiz and Clear. If it wasn’t for the fact that the German would be undeniably amazing at this, Sei might even think they had a reasonable chance, if it wasn’t for Clear, who was so alarmingly good at picking up and mastering games that he may as well be a robot, or an AI at least.

The weaknesses on both teams were undoubtedly the Seregaki brothers, Aoba was jumpy and erratic at the best of times, and Sei was hardly used to doing anything so physical, so basically they were on a nearly even playing field. Koujaku was a wild card though, Sei had no idea how good he’d be at this, and just seeing him in jeans and a hoodie had been so different to what he was used to that he honestly realised he didn’t know him all that well.

But he knew he had to move, especially as Noiz rounded the corner cautiously, like something out of a spy movie, tip of his gun poking out first and then half his face, body pressed close against the wall, hiding the sensors on his chest. He hadn’t noticed Sei yet, carefully creeping round the barrels to the other side so he’d be hidden even as Noiz entered the small room they were in, segregated from the others by a series of passageways and a ramp up to the second floor mezzanine.

He had no idea how good his aim would be, so when he raised his gun silently onto the barrels and aimed for the sensor in the middle of his chest, he was both pleased and surprised when it hit, Noiz’s head jerking to him but too late for him to do anything. Sensors flashing red and gun doing the same, immobilised for five seconds, plenty for Sei to grin at him and head off through the hallway to the left, not knowing where it led til he was at a dead end.

“Crap,” he whispered, noticing as he looked around that there wasn’t even anywhere to hide here, let alone somewhere he could try to launch any kind of sneak attack on the German he was now sure would be aiming to shoot him at all costs. But he couldn’t just leave, he knew Noiz might be waiting outside for him and as much as he knew it was only a game, he wanted to at least try his best, maybe he might not come last.

But after five minutes of nervous waiting in the semi darkness he figured it was time to go, he could hear the sound of running feet on the level above him and guessed it was safe to run out and head somewhere else, maybe just to map the centre if nothing else.

 

 

It was quite a simple design once he got to know it, alternating between creeping around stealthily and running if he thought he heard someone behind him, heart in his throat and breath catching as he swung his gun and caught Clear with his laser. He felt almost guilty as he pouted for a moment, but then he chorused “well done, Sei-san!” And beamed, and he felt a little better about it as he ran off, white coat far too obvious in the dark.

He just kept on guard as he explored the layout, working out that the downstairs was essentially a big rectangle, there was the room where he’d started, which had four exits, one led to a dead end and was basically useless, one led to the ramp upstairs, one led left, and one right. The right branch was a narrow corridor that came out in another medium sized room with another ramp, this time leading down from a balcony where those above could shoot at you, rather like the grille in the ceiling of the first room.

It carried on round and led into the left passageway, where a series of seemingly complicated hallways led back out near the entrance where the CCTV cameras and staff were, relaxing and watching the monitors with little focus as they chatted quietly.

So he figured now was time to head upstairs, realising his mistake the second he did as Noiz jumped up from behind a section of wall and promptly shot him, grinning widely and muttering that it was revenge as he left his hiding place and shot a confused Mizuki over the balcony’s edge.

The upstairs was just one long corridor with the two ramps leading down to the floor below, there was a mirror against one wall that Sei used to shoot Aoba, his brother grumbling all the while about how unfair this whole thing was. Sei ignored him, patting him on the shoulder as he utilised the wire mesh at his side to hit Clear again, giggling as he whined loudly and walked off with his shoulders slumped and no idea what had happened.

 

* * *

 

 

“Oi, Sei! You seen Koujaku? I want to shoot him so bad,” whether Aoba had forgotten they weren’t on the same team or not, he wasn’t sure, but what he did know was that the moment he raised his gun his twin paled with alarm and promptly tried to run off up the ramp. Sei didn’t bother following, he knew what he was doing now, aiming calmly and managing to get a shot right on his shoulder as he ran past the metal wire above them, grinning as he groaned loudly.

“Good shot babe,” he’d thought he was alone, taking a second to catch his breath in the small room, because it was almost a little scary to suddenly have somebody trying to shoot at you, even if it was a laser you couldn’t even see. So he jumped at the voice, undoubtedly Mizuki, raising his weapon automatically despite them being on the same team and eyes narrowing as he tried to work out where he was. He almost thought that maybe he was on the upper level, but it was hidden here, finally noticing the well camouflaged black wall that hid a tiny, cupboard like room where Mizuki was standing, hidden amongst the shadows.

“You gave me a heart attack,” he exclaimed, wondering how long he’d been hiding there, waiting for somebody to come by, presumably planning on launching a surprise attack that Sei knew would most definitely have surprised him.

He chuckled lightly, striding out of his hiding place and yawning, switching his gun hand and rubbing his wrist because they were pretty heavy after a while, and with how much Sei was struggling, he’d be amazed if nobody else was. “Sorry, what’s your death/kill ratio?”

“Uhm,” he hadn’t actually been checking, he knew he’d been shot a couple of times, first by Clear, who’d seemed almost apologetic, then by Aoba who had straight up teased him about it before Koujaku shot him and told him not to be so big-headed. The numbers were in black on the green screen, not displayed in particularly high quality so it took him a moment to comprehend them, “three deaths, seven kills.”

“Seven?!” He sounded surprised and a little outraged, tilting the gun to himself to see and frowning as he realised he was indeed telling the truth.

“Is that good? How many do you have?”

“Four deaths, two kills.”

Oh, well it was less than Sei’s but surely he’d just been in the right places at the right times? It made sense that Mizuki would be better than him, so maybe he’d just been using the wrong approach, like standing in an alcove for however long hoping somebody would come by he could shoot at. “Well that’s not bad, who’d you shoot?”

“Aoba, twice. And I only got him the second time because I scared him and he dropped his gun,” it had been pretty amusing if he was honest, jumping up from behind a metal pallet and aiming his gun only for Aoba to squeak in alarm and, in his haste to try and aim, fling his gun out of his hands, making him a damned easy target.

“Hm,” it was a funny image and he grinned, though he clapped Mizuki on the shoulder a second later, gesturing to the passageway beyond. “Well you won’t shoot anyone standing around talking to me, shouldn’t you be trying to beat me?”

His almost pouting expression morphed into a smirk and that was more what Sei expected, “are you proposing a contest?”

“Maybe,” he smiled back, thinking that he actually didn’t mind a little competition, providing it was all in good fun, of course, he wouldn’t want to risk upsetting anybody by being too into this, fun as it was.

“Alright, you’re on, the loser… Hm, loser…”

“Loser has to wear one item of the others clothing tonight, the winner decides what,” that put Sei at a distinct advantage even if he were to lose, seeing as he wore Mizuki’s clothes all the time anyway and none of them were that bad. But if Mizuki were to lose Sei could do anything to him, force him to wear a dress or a skirt, or some fancy leggings with sparkles, or a pink crop top or really anything he never normally would. Plus Mizuki was actually going out where people would see him, his entire team and half the island in fact, whereas Sei was just staying in with Noiz and a pizza, so it wouldn’t really matter even if he did lose and Mizuki put him in something embarrassing.

It was obvious he knew what Sei was doing, encouraging him to try his very hardest so he wouldn’t have to go out in something horrific, extending a tanned hand and shaking Sei’s with a grin, “bring it on.” With that he was gone, waving a hand in farewell as he headed to the left, into the room where they had begun and either into the dead end where nobody really went, or up the first ramp to the mezzanine.

 

* * *

 

 

He was jogging up the second ramp, the one he’d noticed most people used for descending rather than ascending for some reason, wishing it was still a slide as it apparently had been once, thinking how cool that would be. But his thoughts were abruptly broken off as he collided with somebody else, gun inches off whacking him in the head and almost too shocked to shoot, though he managed a hit anyway, noticing as the other backed off who it was.

Amber eyes widened in realisation as an arm came to hold him steady where he almost staggered and fell and he frowned down at his flashing sensors a second later, having seemingly been rushing somewhere too. “Holy shit Sei, you scared me! You okay?”

“I’m fine, you alright?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, changing their positions all the time so he could go down while Sei headed up, waiting only long enough to make sure both parties weren’t hurt before running off again after his other teammates.

 

* * *

 

 

It was remarkably easy to lose track of time in the dingy passageways, managing to shoot a few more people, notably Clear once again, who whined in his general direction but sped off after a flash of red that could only be Koujaku. So when the voice began counting down the last ten seconds of the game he was remarkably surprised, not even able to reach anyone to get one last shot in, though he heard his boyfriends annoyed yell in the last second before the game ended and the lasers lost effect.

He had to stifle a laugh when they all reconvened by the CCTV monitors and the staff and headed down the two flights of neon-green lit stairs to leave their gun packs and sensor harnesses in the prep room, glancing at Mizuki’s constant frown and trying not to make his amusement obvious. Quickly heading back through the room with the TV monitor where they had explained how to play and out into the brightly lit corridor beyond, blinking at the sudden increase of light.

The monitors by the mini-football table still played their game in a loop and they all convened in a messy cluster to watch the grainy, bad quality footage, sharing anecdotes and praising people, mainly Noiz, for a particularly good shot or rapid reaction times. Then the staff member assigned to them, Junko, turned up with their printed out scores and a smile, declaring the green team the winners, much to Mizuki’s consternation.

The final scores were thus- The green team had won with 17 kills versus the red teams 13.

Mizuki had retained his score of 2 kills, but with Noiz’s last attack had reached 5 deaths, blaming his gun for being faulty, which they all knew was untrue as they’d been tested first and had worked completely fine. Junko just smiled and reminded him they still had two rounds left, the solo round and the double team round, so he still had time to redeem himself, and this seemed to work a little.

Koujaku had 4 kills and 9 deaths, remarking that if it weren’t for the brat, of course meaning Noiz, that he would have done a lot better, just earning a snarky comment that Aoba quickly jabbed his husband for, telling him to, ‘play nice.’

Sei had done the best on their team, to everyone’s amazement including his own, leading to Mizuki quietly muttering that they had obviously deliberately gone easy on him, something he chose to ignore. He was rather proud of his 7 kills and 3 deaths, smiling sheepishly as Junko congratulated him for doing so well on his first time.

Aoba had 3 kills and 6 deaths, Clear had 5 kills and 3 deaths, all of which were Sei, who just offered him a smile as he remarked this and earned yet another wave of surprise, not sure if he was offended at just how terrible everybody had assumed he would do. Noiz of course had trumped them all with 9 kills and 4 deaths, but nobody was surprised by this as Junko remarked that he was the one to look out for.

But after they’d had time to complain or brag, she clapped her hands and after a short sit down to catch their breaths they were ushered back into the TV room to have the rules of the double team battle explained and to pick their teams, which ended thus.

Noiz and Koujaku for some reason decided to pair up, something to do with an ongoing feud between Aoba and Noiz, who hadn’t wanted to be on the same team in the first place and had decided to make this a competition despite Noiz’s clear advantage. So that left Clear and Aoba, and of course Mizuki and Sei teamed up, agreeing to decide who had won their bet based on the solo round.

 

* * *

 

 

And of course, Sei kept his amazing score and his apparent hidden ability only seemed to increase as the game went on, shooting Clear at least twice and Noiz only once, though he’d gone full ‘mission impossible’ and was just a neon green blur most of the time, or the slightest flash of silver piercing as your pack vibrated and died.

So he emerged with a decent score from the solo round, just coming behind Noiz and Mizuki following close behind, having realised that moving around was a lot more effective than just hiding in once place.

 

A couple more sweaty, tiring but enthralling hours, and Mizuki had to resign himself to defeat and Aoba quietly mocking him whenever Sei was distracted by the others, thinking he didn’t mind his loss that much, because surely Sei wouldn’t be _too_ cruel with their bet.

But as usual, he underestimated his fiancé, and he emerged from their bedroom ten minutes before he had to leave with a horribly familiar, and horribly small, scrap of baby pink material and a smug grin that made him feel a little nervous. He handed the crop top over, because of course he wouldn’t go easy on him, and he already knew from Tio that there was a tiara waiting for him downstairs, and waited patiently while he pulled off his shirt and squeezed into it.

“So, how do I look?”

He was polite enough to pause for at least a second, one finger thoughtfully on his chin and debating the amusing sight that was Mizuki, dressed completely normally except the pretty pink top he’d made him wear. “Completely ridiculous.”

He frowned half-heartedly at that, because of course he looked ridiculous, he’d never had this much of his midriff showing before without just being topless and Sei’s clothes were a damn sigh too small for him so it was almost skin tight over his chest. “You know, if you’re not nice I might not marry you.”

It was an empty threat and they both knew it, Sei just rolling his eyes and placing a shot glass on a matching pink plastic beaded chain around his neck where it hung coldly just where the top cut off, “don’t be silly, we’d lose the deposit.”

“That’s the only problem, is it?” He asked, but he was joking and a second later the sound of raised voices chanting his name and stomping their feet in time sounded from the bar below and he smiled at Sei sheepishly, wondering how he was meant to deal with his stomach being this cold all night. “I better go, have a good night, babe.”

“Mm-hm, you too, and don’t do anything too stupid,” he smiled broadly as he stretched up to kiss him goodbye, very much enjoying being able to feel his sculpted stomach where it wasn’t covered by material for once, snorting to himself as Tio skidded into the doorway and his mouth fell open in amazement. “I love you.”

“Yeah, love you too,” his voice was only a little reluctant because by now Tio was laughing and barely stopped even as Mizuki wrestled him into a half-playful headlock, demanding he shut up and that this was all Sei’s fault even as he waved goodbye to them both good-naturedly.

 

* * *

 

 

He finally staggered in several hours later, though still earlier than either Noiz or Sei had expected, the former still there and slight traces of unremoved brown face mask still on his cheeks, hand cradled in Sei’s as he carefully applied strong smelling polish onto his nibbled nails. There were half-eaten pizza boxes scattered on the coffee table and the Mario kart menu was still open on the TV screen, bartender almost tripping over an empty ice-cream tub as he finally removed his damned tiara.

“Having fun?” He managed to ask, rather too proud at how little his voice slurred, though based on Sei’s raised eyebrow he still looked pretty drunk, sinking onto the couch heavily and leaning his head against the arm, feeling a little sick.

“He talked me into this.” Noiz didn’t sound as alarmed as he looked, in fact his voice was remarkably resigned and Sei just smiled distractedly as he applied another layer, this time of glitter sparkles, over the pink coat he’d already done.

“Eh, it’s cool, he’s done the same to me before. But,” he paused and even the flush of alcohol on his cheeks couldn’t hide his amusement as he continued. “Not bright pink.”

“It’s my stag night, he has to do what I say,” Sei remarked with a worrying lack of logic, shrugging and tongue poking out from between his lips as he finished the last nail and screwed the top back onto the rainbow hued glitter polish.

“Surprised that worked,” he remarked, increasingly aware that his head was spinning and the strong chemical smell of the varnish was making him feel woozy and uncomfortable, shifting a little shakily on the couch and wondering why it was so hot.

“He hid the pizza,” Noiz added and suddenly it all made sense, waggling his nails in the air so they dried and regarding them with a significantly small amount of care, just taking it in his stride as he did everything else, only really worried about what his pest of a husband would say. “You look like you’re gunna throw up.”

He didn’t respond to that, because almost as Noiz said it he realised the truth in his words, standing rapidly from the couch and making his very uncoordinated way to the bathroom, only just making the toilet before the alcohol contents of his stomach re-emerged.

“That’s my cue to leave,” Noiz remarked, standing from the couch as Sei grimaced and aimed worried eyes towards the bathroom, only leaving him to it because he was old enough now to look after himself. “Have fun looking after him.”

“I will, tell me what Aoba says about your nails.”

“Sure will,” he hugged him then, warm and long, eying up the pizza on the table as he drew back until Sei rolled his eyes and just handed over one of the boxes, closing the lid and raising his eyebrow at Noiz’s apparent reluctance to either ask or just take it himself. “I’ll see you in a couple of days.

“Yeah,” he didn’t think on that much until after he was gone and he’d gone to see to Mizuki, because he wouldn’t see Noiz or indeed any of the others for a few more days now, not until he was walking up the aisle to the man who was currently groaning loudly from on their bathroom floor, smiling somewhat humourlessly as he wondered just what he was getting himself into. “Come on, you mess, let’s get you into bed.”

But he got up easily enough and let Sei lead him into their room, flopping into bed still in the stupid crop top and managing to just about pull off his jeans, watching his fiancé grab a sick bucket for him and wipe his mouth clean with a wad of tissues. Grabbing at his sleeve as he made to turn the light off and leave, turning and looking at him expectantly, “Sei, come cuddle.”

His words were so slurred by alcohol and his pillow that for a moment he had no idea what on earth he had said, then realisation sunk in and he smiled, small and fond, just sighing in mock exasperation but ditching his idea to go tidy up, it could wait til the morning after all. He just climbed into the bed instead and let his somewhat sweaty ~~boy-~~ _fiancé_ , embrace him.

“If you’re sick on me we’re getting a divorce.” He just laughed at that, low and warm and content, settling into the mattress and not even remarking that it was a little too early to be thinking of that, falling asleep fast and Sei left to think over the fact that they would be married in a few days, he felt unpleasantly nervous, at least until Mizuki spoke and almost gave him a heart attack.

“Stop thinking and go t’sleep,” his words meshed into one garbled line, opening his eyes for a second to regard Sei’s mildly concerned expression and adjusting his position with a bleary groan so Sei’s head was nestled on his chest. “Nothin’s gunna change ‘cept the ring.”

He smiled at that, fingering the band on his finger absently and eyes flickering to where Mizuki’s lay safely on the bedside table, because he was right, being married didn’t really mean much would have to be different, and right now he was glad of that, because he really didn’t want anything about them to change.


	21. Getting Married

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. But nothing soaking wet, please

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just imagine the wedding from twilight if you want to visualise the setting

“If it rains what are we meant to do?”

“Hm, get wet I suppose, but it wouldn’t really matter, right? I mean we still end up married,” Sei shrugged, rolling over on Mizuki’s lap to regard him, having let go the nervous terror he’d had in the weeks leading up to the wedding, realising it was about being married, not about showing off or it being perfect.  “Are you nervous?”

“Not really,” Mizuki shrugged, because right now he supposed he was just a little excited, a wedding was basically a big party in one sense, and it would be nice to see everybody they knew gathered together and having fun, once the ceremony was over anyway. “I guess I might be tomorrow. I’m just excited for our honeymoon, I want to know what it’s like off the island.”

“Hm, I’m nervous for that, what if you hate flying or something?” He wasn’t really talking about Mizuki, he was mildly concerned he’d spend the flight, admittedly they weren’t going far but even so, freaking out about dying, which might put a damper on things.

“I’ll deal with it, I want to see the world with you.”

“The world being the rest of Japan?”

“Haven’t you heard of starting small? Besides, we’ll already be spending our wedding night on an aeroplane, would you really want to be on it for hours? Or go somewhere we don’t know the language or culture or anything?” He was still a little unsure of whether whisking Sei away on the very day of their wedding was a good idea, but he didn’t want them to just go back to the apartment after the after-party, he wanted them to be doing something new and exciting, so he’d booked flights for that night, day so jam-packed they’d definitely just crash when they arrived.

“I guess not. So you’re still not telling me where we’re going or anything?” He looked away then, picking up the towel from the coffee table and carefully wiping away some face mask that had made it’s way into Mizuki’s hair, bright green tea-tree scented clay mask having only been applied at his insistence, his in an equally terrible shade of bright yellow.

“It’s a surprise.”

“I don’t like surprises.”

That was a lie, as long as it was a good surprise Sei loved them, sure sometimes he might be uncertain at first, but he always warmed to whatever it was really easily and Mizuki knew he’d love their honeymoon no matter where it was, “yes you do, besides, you’ll definitely like this one.”

He wasn’t positive but he nodded anyway and lay back down on Mizuki’s lap, bartender playing with his hair and just absently gazing at the movie on TV, ending up drifting off and only being woken to remove the mask and be put to bed, Mizuki squirming in next to him and kissing his lemon-scented cheek.

 

* * *

 

 

Sei was nowhere to be found when he went to wake him up, mildly confused as he headed into the gym, finding him there, stood in front of the glass door leading to their small balcony and frowning out at the weather, “Babe, what’s wrong?”

“It’s raining! We’re doomed to divorce and be miserable forever and look like drowned rats in all our pictures and-“

“Sei, relax,” he gripped his shoulders then, taking in the wide eyes on his face and the panic in his tensed body, all too familiar, pre-wedding nerves having returned full force and to insane levels, playing with a lock of his hair and stroking across his cheek soothingly. “It’s forecast to stop in the afternoon, its fine.”

“No it’s not! And I’ve got a massive spot on my chin and bags under my eyes and-“

“You look beautiful anyway. Calm down, okay? Come and eat breakfast.”

“Breakfast?” He spoke like he’d never heard the word before, confusion lacing his tone but letting Mizuki guide him into the dining room anyway, disappearing into the kitchen and emerging with a prettily arranged tray, large yellow daffodils in a vase forming a centrepiece. He lowered it down carefully and began to unload it, two champagne glasses of lightly sparkling champagne and orange juice, a platter of sliced fresh fruit and two different pots of fruity compote, one orange and exotic flavours, the other a deep, berry red. He’d folded napkins into swans, a little badly admittedly, and their necks were sagging, but they were still cute and Sei just stared in surprise as Mizuki finally put his plate down in front of him, cutlery already laid out next to his fiancés usual multivitamin tablets.

“Pancakes. I _was_ going to do breakfast in bed but you’d already woken up so I guess this will have to do,” Sei still hadn’t spoken and he was getting a little nervous, wondering if he was still freaking out about the rain that pattered against the windows, wanting to make sure he was in an okay mood to enjoy the day as much as he should. But then he sighed quietly, smiling and reaching out for his hand where he lingered awkwardly, not knowing whether to offer reassurance about the weather not mattering or to ring Aoba and request immediate back up for the stressed groom.

“You know, I really do love you,” was all he said, but his eyes looked a little damp and Mizuki refused to let him cry on their wedding day, or before the ceremony at least, rolling his eyes because of course Sei loved him and of course he knew that, just squeezing his hand, rubbing over his ring finger where another would be added later that day.

“I know, and I love you too, so sit down and eat breakfast, okay? Everything will work out fine, I promise,” he could of course make no such promises and they both knew it, but Sei appreciated it nonetheless, just smiling and accepting a kiss before Mizuki pulled his seat out for him with a stupidly elaborate flourish and he laughed, because yes, everything would be okay.

 

* * *

 

 

“You know it’s bad luck to see each other on the wedding day,” he wasn’t being rude, he was just stating a tradition, albeit one that Mizuki didn’t really like or believe in, letting him dab at his face with some kind of makeup product, apparently wanting to make sure he looked ‘fresh-faced’, whatever that meant.

“I know, but I’ve woken up with him every day for what, two years now? Longer? I didn’t think him waking up on his own on his wedding day seemed right, and I don’t believe in bad luck.”

“Hm, well me neither. So, how was he?”

“A bit nervous I think, he was worried about the rain since it’s outdoors, but I think he’s okay now, and he’s got Noiz and Aoba looking after him so he should be alright.”

“I’m sure he is, he’ll-“ There was a knock on the door then and Tio paused in his ministrations for a second before remembering it was unlocked. “Come in.”

“Yo, how’s the groo- Are you putting makeup on him?” Koujaku lost his greeting and frowned as he stepped inside, carrying a small bag Mizuki knew carried his hairdressing supplies, having volunteered himself to style both Sei and Mizuki’s hair for the big day, as well as that of the wedding party, presumably having come from the other side of town.

“Sei will be wearing it too, just to make sure he looks his best,” Tio immediately explained, not particularly wanting him to make Mizuki feel weirder about it than he already did, having been rather unwilling at first, blending concealer under his eyes.

“Oh, okay that makes sense. In fact I just came from there.”

“How is he?” He tried not to sound too eager or concerned, but Tio raised an eyebrow in his direction as he moved away to retrieve a large brush, swirling it around into darkish powder and then dusting it over his face.

“Oh Sei’s having the time of his life getting pampered, Tae-san is doing his nails, I did his hair and he’s doing his own makeup later I think, not sure about that, but they’ve all got champagne and strawberries, it’s quite the party. Aoba keeps crying though, something about his sweet little brother growing up, Noiz thinks he’s gone mad, I think I agree with him.”

“Hm, I guess it is emotional, but he must have expected Sei would get married eventually, nobody thought Mizuki would.”

“I don’t know if I’m meant to be offended by that or not,” Tio had moved away now, offering over a mirror and bartender blinking owlishly at himself, surprised at how different he looked yet how he couldn’t tell he was wearing makeup, bags under his eyes gone and skin looking fresh and healthy.

“I’d go with no, now you don’t have much hair to work with, do you just want me to trim it and style it?” Koujaku’s fingers were running through the burgundy strands already, testing the weight and thickness of it and examining the ends, humming in satisfaction at its condition.

“What did you do to Sei’s?”

“Not telling,” he should really have expected that, just rolling his eyes at the response and letting his friend all but molest his scalp, he knew what he was doing enough to be trusted after all. “But you’ve been conditioning this, haven’t you?”

“He makes me.”                                                                                                           

“So he should, alright, so just a trim, and Tio would you put on some music or something? Honestly it’s like we’re getting ready for a funeral, and get this man some champagne, he’s getting married later.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh I’m gunna throw up.”

“Not on your suit please, or your shoes, I spent ages polishing them.”

“I know, I know. Okay _now_ I’m nervous.”

“Relax, take a deep breath, and remember it’s Sei who’s waiting for you up there. Plus he looks super cute.”

“Modest, aren’t you? So how do I look?”

“Is he freaking out? It sounds like he’s freaking out,” he turned to see the curtain of the marquee they were currently in open, Tio poking his head in then entering, grinning and shaking his head disbelievingly as he noticed how horribly nervous Mizuki looked.

“Sure is, so, how does he look, Tio?”

“Very handsome, now calm down, you’ve been waiting for this for months, you may as well enjoy it. Everybody’s out there looking excited, Aoba’s actually vibrating, I’m pretty sure Clear might explode soon. Tae told Mink off for smoking a minute ago, and the sun just came out, it’s gorgeous out there.”

“Shouldn’t you be up there already? You know, the whole best man thing?”

“I just came to let you know they’re ready when you are, remember, nothing has to change after this.”

“Just the ring.”

 

* * *

 

 

It sounded cliché even to him, but the ceremony itself seemed to pass by in a flash, what stuck was the setting, the guests sat on fold out wooden chairs on either side of the white material that led up to the tree they were getting married under, decorated with white flowers, the forest all around them and the sound of birds tweeting, floor a little damp from the mornings rain but sun dappling through leaves.

He could hear the sound of a camera shutter clicking occasionally but he ignored it, walking up to meet Tio and Noiz, the best men, at the altar, Sei stood there waiting and looking so beautiful that he swore his heart stopped for a second. His hair in the softest waves, tucked behind his ears at the side by two tiny plaits laced with white ribbon and speckled with small flowers that matched his suit, white to Mizuki’s black.

Then there was Sei’s smile as he the official started the ceremony and the hand that reached reassuringly for his as he stammered through his vows, the squeeze it had given him and the love in his eyes that had made it so much easier to finish. The sound of Aoba sniffling from the front row as they said their ‘I do’s’ and he slid the ring onto Sei’s finger with the other, Mizuki having gotten his resized without telling Sei so he could wear it properly too.

Then the first kiss as a married couple and Sei’s smile against his mouth so wide it felt like he might burst open at the seams, eyes large and shining, Aoba almost wailing by now and Noiz abandoning his post to comfort him. Turning to regard their friends and family, their loved ones, seeing tears and smiles and so much joy he almost couldn’t believe this was all for them, taking Sei’s hand and squeezing it tight, running fingers over his new ring.

Walking past all the people who loved them and being scattered with confetti, polite applause being drowned out by the cheers and whistles of Dry Juice, almost the whole group having shown up and extra chairs having to be added last minute, a few standing due to lack of planning.

The noise following them all the way to the marquee where Mizuki had started off and Sei had never been, just able to be alone for the first time all day and Mizuki suddenly realising how much he hadn’t liked not seeing him for that long. There was no need for words between them, there never had been before and there wasn’t now, just holding each other close and if Sei cried a little bit it was only because he was happy and Mizuki was okay with that.


	22. Wearing kirugimi (Onesies)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wild animals aren't meant to be kept in captivity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hotel @ [here](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=globe+hotel&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjj9pP3wNDNAhXLDsAKHQNRD3QQ_AUIBygC#safe=off&tbm=isch&q=hotel+sorprendentes&imgrc=Sg7ZWi6QvwgDzM%3A)

“Oh my God, you’re serious?”

“Sure am, so, what do you think?”

“It’s amazing. Can we go inside?”

“Obviously, here, you do the honours,” he handed the key over with a mock bow and watched as Sei almost jogged forwards, spring in his step as he walked towards the strange bubble like room he’d arranged for them to stay in their first night. Ignoring the forest around it and stepping neatly onto the decking that surrounded it, woodchips surrounding the rest of it but the slim walkway, reaching the plastic door and sliding the key in, twisting it and pulling it open.

He hesitated on the threshold, waiting for Mizuki who had the heavier bags, not that they’d really packed that heavily, but he wanted to wait nonetheless, looking through the room, and honestly that was bizarre, to see what looked like a wooden hot tub situated behind it. But then he paused, tilting his head to the side as he observed the room, neatly made up double bed, small table for storage, and a table made from a tree trunk with two comfortable looking wicker armchairs.

“I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Where do we pee?”

Mizuki laughed at that, because he had to admit that when he’d stumbled across the hotel he’d wondered that too, having horrible images of having to spend the first night of his honeymoon pissing in the woods, not that he hadn’t done it before, but it was hardly romantic. Instead he placed their bags inside, surprised at how cool it was despite the warm sun beating down onto the plastic, or possibly glass, structure, pointing past it to a path that wound into the woods.

“A little way down there there’s a toilet and sink, don’t worry, you won’t have to pee in a bottle or anything.”

“It’s you that does that anyway.”

“That was once, and you wouldn’t let me in the bathroom.”

“Eh, whatever. But Mizu this is so cool! Will we be able to see all the stars?”

“Should be, it’s out of the town enough. Apparently it’s beautiful when it snows, but we’re a few months early for that,” he shrugged a little apologetically but Sei didn’t seem to care, ditching his back pack then flopping onto the bed to gaze up at the sky with an awestruck expression. “Now I have another question.”

“Go on.”

“Do you need a nap or are you awake enough to go for a swim in the lake?”

“Hmm,” he paused to consider that, putting a finger to his lips and thinking that this bed seemed bigger than a double yet not as big as their king-size at home, thinking it was very comfortable either way and almost forgetting the question. “Swim!”

 

* * *

 

 

So they got changed with some comment from Sei about how weird it was to be naked where really anybody could see and laughter from Mizuki about how nobody would be out there, and walked to the lake hand in hand. The water was cold but they warmed up soon enough, Mizuki trying to teach Sei to dive only for him to get too scared the moment before he jumped, bombing in every single time with a yelp. They in fact spent way too much time in the water, and by the time they’d collapsed onto the shore Sei was exhausted and Mizuki was beginning to feel hungry, remembering the hotels apparent room service and deciding to see how well it worked, hoping he could surprise Sei.

So when they got back he used the excuse of needing the toilet to disappear for ten minutes, taking his coil with him and Sei remarking how unhygienic it was to use it while he pissed, Mizuki laughing it off and calling the moment he was out of sight of the bubble hotel. He asked for what he wanted and was assured it would be with them within half an hour, something he didn’t quite believe, but based on how fancy the hotel seemed to be, and how much their one night stay had cost, he had a feeling they might somehow manage it.

 

* * *

 

And indeed, to his amazement, just over half an hour later, although only by about three minutes, there was a tap on the clear door and Sei’s mouth was hanging open a little stupidly, and there was a smartly dressed concierge there with the foodstuffs he’d ordered for them. Sei was too amazed to even speak, so Mizuki thanked, and tipped, him for both of them, returning inside and unloading the bag it had been inside, amused at the fancy black cartons that were really like any plastic take-away tub.

“Not hungry, babe?” He was teasing him, he knew full well he must be as hungry as he was, which was really damn hungry now he could smell the food, watching him advance with a growing smile, laughing a second later and seemingly snapped back to himself.

“Mizuki, you’re just…” He sighed, not able to think of the words he wanted as he just let his husband, _his husband,_ pull him into his side, wrapping an arm around his waist and staring out at the slowly darkening sky. “Have I ever told you how amazing you are?”

“Couple times, not nearly enough though.”

“Well then you’re amazing,” and then he kissed him and they nearly got distracted, only Sei’s reminder that the food would go cold convincing him to stop, playing with his feet under the table instead and feeding him bites of his food because of course he’d want to try everything when it all looked so good.

 

* * *

 

“Oh, I’m so full but that was stupidly good!”

“I’d hope so, their kitchen has four stars or something.”

“Seriously? Wow, you really are spoiling me.”

He smiled then, because he wasn’t complaining, he knew Mizuki loved spoiling him and honestly who didn’t enjoy being spoiled? Plus the fact it was their honeymoon meant he had a valid reason, and this was technically as much for Mizuki as much as it was for Sei, his forehead crinkling as Mizuki reached into the bag the food had come in, removing a black bottle and two champagne glasses.

“Sure am, so, champagne in the hot tub? I even got strawberries to put in it.”

He paused for a moment, as if taking all of this in, the matching rings on their fingers, the light shining through the glass walls and ceiling, the clinking glasses in Mizuki’s hands, and beamed, eyes feeling the tiniest bit damp but blinking it away easily, “yeah, that sounds great.”

 

* * *

 

 

The sky got gradually darker while they sat in the bubbling water, lit from underneath with a cool blue that washed over them, cuddled close together and gazing up at the stars, Mizuki pointing out the constellations he knew and Sei paying close attention to every word. But it was beginning to get too cold even when they were submerged in water up to their chins, champagne drank and strawberries eaten, cheeks a little pink with intoxication and the warm water. So when Mizuki suggested they get out he didn’t object, lingering to turn it off and gather up their plate and glasses, heading inside second and putting it all into a tidy pile on the small table for the staff the next morning.

“I have one last surprise for you, close your eyes,” he did as he was told, trusting Mizuki implicitly, hearing a suitcase unzipping and so tempted to peek, just managing to resist and reopening them when he was told to. In each of his husband’s hands hung what looked like onesies, one black and white and seemingly meant to be a zebra, and the other giraffe patterned, mouth slipping into a laugh as he grinned.

“Oh my god, seriously? How did I not see you pack those!”

“I’m sneaky, so, which one do you want?”

“Zebra,” he answered immediately, because despite being given the choice he knew the giraffe one wasn’t meant for him, accepting it and the towel he was handed, pleased at how incredibly soft the fleecy material was as he slipped it on over clean boxers. “Oh this is so cute!”

“You’ve got a tail too,” he should really have expected some sort of mischief from that, just regarding Mizuki in his matching one-piece, hood pulled up and two slightly floppy horns sticking out of his head. But he turned round anyway, twisting to try and see it and just managing, black fabric ending in a tuft of fabric, smiling and wriggling in amusement, watching it bob about and aware of how stupid he looked only when he heard laugher and turned to see Mizuki’s coil trailed on him.

“You asshole!” He went to hit him but Mizuki had moved faster, scooping an arm around his middle and sending them tumbling to the bed, objections dying as he squeaked in alarm and the coil was forgotten somewhere on the floor. “You- Stop tickling me- You better not have sent that to anybody!”

“Nope, that’s just for me.”

“Pervert,” he grumbled, but then Mizuki kissed him and he’d never really been annoyed to begin with, just moving his floppy hood out of the way and thinking that he wasn’t really tall enough to be a giraffe, though he did make a cute one.

 

* * *

 

 

“Seiii…” He drew out his name and the hand squirming around his waist had already made him suspicious, his husband worming his hood down to access his neck and kiss it, humming against the skin and giving up for a moment to just inhale his scent. It was warm and Sei felt so content that he didn’t even have any thoughts past this, at least until Mizuki started kissing his neck with more intent and he paused to glare at him.

“I am not having sex with you in a room with see through walls.”

He pouted against his skin then, shifting so he was cheek to cheek with him, voice petulant but joking enough that Sei knew if he really didn’t want to Mizuki would leave him alone, “awh, come on, it’s our wedding night.”

“That was last night.”

“We were travelling,” he shrugged but then changed the topic, accepting that Sei was uncomfortable with it and teasing him instead, sighing wistfully and tone laced with deliberate nostalgia. “I remember the days you used to get all shy talking about sex.”

“That was years ago! You’re such an ass.”

“That’s no way to speak to your husband.”

“Hm, I suppose not,” he wasn’t sure either of them had actually used that word yet and it made warmth squirm in his stomach, not unpleasantly but not settled enough to be comfortable yet, debating Mizuki’s earlier suggestion before speaking cautiously. “You can only get here through that gate with the key card, right?”

“Mm-hm.”

“And, it’s pretty dark anyway,” he’d already basically agreed and Mizuki knew it, voice a little warmer now and seeming greatly amused at how easily Sei had talked himself into it, having been fully prepared to just cuddle instead and more than happy with that.

“It sure is.”

“And if we get arrested for indecent exposure you can afford to pay bail for us both, right?”

“Most definitely, I’ll even take the blame, you were drunk, didn’t know what was going on, that sort of thing.”

“Perfect, but, this renders the onesies a little useless.”

“I mean, not to be crass, but they do have butt flaps,” Sei just slapped him for that, apologising with kisses and losing the zebra stripes remarkably quickly, nobody to see but the stars twinkling above them and the empty woods on either side.


	23. Doing something together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marriage is all about having somebody to support you, just usually not this literally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this idea several months ago now and just finished it, so if the writing style/skill level suddenly changes that's why, apologies for that

“Are you serious? This is what we’re doing?” Sei’s eyes were disbelieving and somewhat concerned, if Mizuki thought this comprised a fun honeymoon activity idea, he was sorely mistaken. The bright painted sign of the climbing and bouldering centre loomed above them as they approached, Sei freezing under Mizuki’s arm and stopping dead still.

“Sure is, I thought it might be nice to do something different for once. A bit exciting maybe.” Mizuki could sense that Sei was something more than just surprised, turning to face him and frowning as his eyes widened and he swallowed hard, breath growing heavier. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I-I,” Sei’s voice stammered as his anxiety rose, the idea of dangling on a rope, high above the ground, clinging to a wall desperately only for his foot to slip and him to fall, plummeting through the air to the floor where- “I can’t, Mizu. I’m scared of heights.”

Mizuki could see fear building in Sei’s eyes and promptly pulled him into his arms, cradling the back of his head and patting his hair reassuringly, trying to calm him down as his breathing slowed. “Hey, hey, hey. Relax, okay? You don’t have to, you know I’d never force you to do anything you didn’t want to. I didn’t know you didn’t like heights, I’m not stupid enough to bring you rock climbing knowing you hated them.”

“I know, but Mizuki… I _really_ don’t think I can do this.” Sei’s eyes were still scared, biting at his lower lip nervously as he debated whether to at least try it, Mizuki had arranged it specially after all, or whether to follow his churning gut and refuse.

“Shh, shh. We don’t even have to go in unless you want.” Mizuki offered, thumbing under Sei’s eyes which were looking alarmingly watery, probably feeling guilty and nervous and a whole mixture of anxious emotions he couldn’t even hope to interpret. He sighed as Sei stared nervously up at him, biting his lip anxiously and seemingly feeling horribly guilty already. “Not such a good surprise huh? I should have picked something less extreme to start with…”

Sei shook his head, not liking nor appreciating Mizuki’s guilty tone. “It’s a good surprise, really it is, Mizuki. I’ve just never done it before. What if I fall?”

Mizuki blinked, he understood being nervous of new things, but how would he fall? “You can’t, I’ll have the rope. I won’t drop you, unless you really piss me off.” Sei’s unamused look was enough for Mizuki to know his panic had subsided and he wasn’t going to fall into a full on anxiety attack.

“You wouldn’t.” He half threatened, eyes narrowed as he jabbed his husband in the ribs.

“Correct,” Mizuki replied, grabbing hold of Sei’s pointy fingers and rubbing them with his own soothingly, smiling softly, because he wouldn’t want to pressure him, especially when he seemed so reluctant already. “So, d’you wanna try it? We can leave whenever you want.”

Sei sighed, he knew he was going to be terrible, and it would be embarrassing, his body was weak as it was, without climbing up walls like some kind of mountain goat.

But he trusted Mizuki with his life, and he knew it would be safe enough, so he took a deep breath, met warm green eyes and nodded, if only to see his husband’s expression light up in childish glee. “Okay, I’ll try it.”

 

* * *

 

 

The centre was deserted, just one person was on the walls, or not, as the case was. They were clinging to a large, fake boulder in the middle of the room, patch-worked with hand and foot grips as the rest of the walls were, but there were no ropes. The floor under him seemed to be more of a huge air mattress, as was proved when his one-armed dangle failed to hold enough strength to pull the rest of him up onto the wall a second later and he fell onto it, landing seemingly gently with just a soft ‘oof’, as the air left his lungs.

“Wow,” Mizuki commented quietly as he stood up and turned around to notice them, looking mildly alarmed before realising they didn’t seem to have been waiting long, Sei staring at his husband in feigned displeasure until Mizuki smiled sheepishly at him, as if the very idea of him ogling another man was one he’d entertain.

“Hey, didn’t see you there sorry.” He grinned, toothy and wide, tanned skin making his teeth shine impossibly white. He wiped a layer of sweat off his forehead and made his way over to them, ridiculously muscled back rippling as he pulled his uniform- ah, he must be an employee- back over his head.

“That was pretty impressive,” Mizuki commented casually as the man’s beam somehow grew wider, splitting his face in two.

“Thanks, I get lots of time to practice. You two here to climb?”

Sei raised an eyebrow, wondering what else they would possibly be at an indoor climbing centre to do but climb, but nodded along with Mizuki nonetheless, figuring to himself that they did seem to have some kind of shop that sold climbing supplies, so it was feasible that they were there to buy something.

“Okay, we charge per hour. Any idea how long you want?”

“Well, we’re just kind of trying it out today. I haven’t climbed in a while and Sei never has.” Sei immediately flushed with embarrassment, elbowing his husband in the ribs fairly hard, drawing a sharp noise of pain from him.

“Ah okay cool. Well I’m not really supposed to do this, but since we’re empty, how about you just stay as long as you want, and I’ll work out the price afterwards? That way you won’t pay for longer than you use.” The man’s enthusiasm seemed unwavering, “I’ll show you how to set everything up and keep an eye on you until you get the hang of it, then I’ll go back to trying to scale that beast.”

“That’d be awesome,” Mizuki nodded, jumping as the man clapped suddenly.

“Okay! Then I’ll get yo- Oh! I’m Migi by the way. Sei, right? And you are..?”

“Mizuki,” the tattooist replied, thinking that if anyone could make Sei comfortable, it was this straight forward, cheery guy, he just had an atmosphere of being easy going and friendly.

“Nice to meet you both, did you come here specially or are you local? Don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“Just visiting, we were in the area and it seemed like a fun idea,” Mizuki explained, following Migi as he headed towards a store cupboard of sorts, removing two helmets, quickly glancing each of them up and down before getting harnesses.

“And right you are. Okay, I’d say… small for you,” he handed Sei his harness, receiving a small smile in return. “Medium for you, shoe sizes?”

“Um, I’m a 10, he’s a… 7?”

“Seven.” Sei nodded, not surprised Mizuki knew seeing as he was constantly buying him shoes, of course he’d know his size, it still made him smile to know it though since he’d been unsure of Mizuki’s until he’d just said it, having been certain he was a size nine.

“Ten and seven,” he rooted round in the cupboard for a while, looking up and down racks of identical green and black shoes, presumably designed specifically for climbing.

He handed them over and they pulled them on, Sei thinking they were distinctly ugly and wishing he could just stay in his own trainers, though there must be a reason he couldn’t.

Their harnesses were on soon enough, Sei’s secured with equal help from Mizuki and Migi, who seemed to be a ball of energy now he had something to do, leading them to the wall.

“The walls all have numbers down here,” he pointed to a small board attached to the bottom of the wall. “The numbers go from one to ten, one is beginner, ten is expert. Those three walls over there are for professionals only, so I wouldn’t recommend you even try. There are different colour routes too, with different difficulty routes, from one to five. One is medium, five is difficult. So on this wall, it’s a beginners wall if you use both colours, just yellow is medium, and just red is a bit harder.”

They couldn’t do much but nod, trying to take in all the information.

“You said you’ve climbed before?” Mizuki nodded, “think you can still remember the knots to attach yourself and your friend?

Mizuki took the length of rope he was handed, thinking absently how odd it was to have Sei referred to as his friend, especially as their matching weddings rings shone from their fingers, but ignored it and nodded nonetheless, “yeah, I think so.” He turned to Sei a minute later, looping the rope through his harness and beginning to uncertainly tie a figure of eight knot, looking up at him when he finished. “Want me to climb first?”

Sei nodded rapidly, making Migi laugh and clap a hand on his shoulder, dark eyes flying open in alarm as the force almost knocked him over. “It’ll be your job to hold him up then.” His eyes got wider.

“But he’s bigger than me, and kinda heavy.”

“You calling me fat?” Mizuki asked jokingly, knowing already what Sei’s response would be as he narrowed his eyes childishly, just snorting quietly to himself at how dumb they both were.

“Yes.”

“No need to worry about that,” Migi continued to speak even as Mizuki attached himself to the rope, pausing to glance the knot over and give it a quick tighten before nodding. “Good job. Anyway, the ropes have a system so the person attached weighs less than they actually do. It’s too complicated to explain, but you’ll be able to belay for him fine.”

He demonstrated the correct way for Sei to belay... Or whatever the hell he had said, and made him demonstrate it a couple of times until the slack of Mizuki’s rope was gone, reassuring Sei as his hands trembled and reminding him that if ever the rope got too loose, he’d step in to ensure Mizuki’s safety.

“Ready to climb?” Migi asked, clapping Mizuki on the back as he nodded before turning to Sei. “You ready?” His weak nod must have sufficed because he gestured for Mizuki to start climbing, flashing him a warm smile before he turned towards the wall. It seemed horrifically high to Sei, but Mizuki climbed it with ease, seemingly scaling it as easily as he would walk up a flight of stairs, arms not even straining as he gripped each hand hold and shifted his feet easily. It was all Sei could do to keep up, frantic movements of his arms just managing to keep the rope taut so if he did fall, which seemed completely unlikely, he wouldn’t have to jolt a foot or so down the wall, no doubt pulling on his crotch unpleasantly due to his harness.

He was at the top before Sei even registered it, eyes on the rope more than they were on Mizuki’s form, seemingly not phased by being several feet above the ground with only his skinny and significantly smaller husband holding him up there.

“Woo! Well done Mizuki that was awesome!” Migi’s applause brought Sei back into reality, rope safely in the ‘locked off’ position and eyes back on his boyfriends form a good forty, maybe even fifty feet above the ground. Just looking at him made him feel sick, even as he released the wall with one hand and waved, turning to regard them and grinning wide as he took in Sei’s surprised expression. “You ready to come down?”

“Sure am,” he yelled back, managing to shoot Sei a thumbs up and waiting for the command that they were ready for him, able to hear Migi’s voice floating up but not fully hearing what he was saying.

“Okay?”

“Mm-hm,” Sei nodded, still not sure he could hold Mizuki’s weight, but deciding to believe Migi, he did work here after all, he should really know what he was talking about. “R-ready!”

There was a definite pull on the rope when Mizuki let go of the wall, easing himself into a sitting position as Sei slowly fed the rope out, Migi’s presence behind him utterly reassuring, holding the rope just in case he did slip up. He, in essence, walked down the wall, rather jerkily as Sei’s belaying wasn’t the smoothest, but he made it to the ground eventually, all but falling the last couple of feet when his hands grew too shaky, landing on the mat and almost stumbling.

 

* * *

 

 

“His legs are shaking,” Migi murmured from a significant way below him, but Sei heard it and felt mildly irritated at being talked about, shame not quite affecting him because he was so damned scared, clinging on to rough rocks with sore fingers and feeling sweat bead on his forehead.

“He doesn’t like heights apparently, I only found out when we got here.”

“Wow, so you’re like a terrible friend right now?” He paused to adjust the rope in Mizuki’s hand and Sei of course missed the moment where he clocked the wedding ring and something in his head snapped into place. “Or husband, apologies.”

“It’s cool, we’re not making a big deal out of it, you know how some people are,” people on Midorijima didn’t tend to give a shit really, but they’d had a few unpleasant experiences of being called faggots or other horrible names, so they tended to keep their relationship, and he guessed their marriage now too, on a need-to-know basis with strangers.

“True true, so how long have you two been married?”

“Um,” Sei would have laughed at the sheer uncertainty in Mizuki’s voice, had he not been so nervous, lifting a leg to another foothold and yanking himself up another foot, feeling himself shaking uncontrollably and staying close to the wall instead of leaning back to observe his route as Mizuki had. “Like, a week now?”

“Nine days,” he called back down, and he heard Mizuki’s snort of amusement even as his blood pounded in his ears and Migi said something about a handhold to his left and he rose another small amount up the wall, top in sight now.

“Well I can see who the wife is,” Sei almost wanted to remark that that was not how gay relationships worked, but Migi’s tone was good natured and friendly enough that he didn’t feel the need to bother, just taking a deep breath and not hearing Mizuki’s response as his foot nearly slipped and he whimpered. “Let me guess, this is your honeymoon?”

“Sure is, we flew over from Midorijima, didn’t want go anywhere too far from home though.”

“Oh is that so? Hm, I heard it was accessible again,” his tone was pondering and Mizuki was glad when he changed the topic a moment later. “Nearly there, Sei! Get that red foothold, by your knee.”

“You’re doing great, babe,” the enthusiasm and reassurance may have been nice, but it didn’t much help the nervousness coursing through him because he was so high above the ground and even though he trusted Mizuki, that all faded as his fear pressed in heavily. “Just a little bit more.”

He wanted to get to the top though, he knew he’d be so disappointed in himself if he didn’t, so he just went for it, sweating hands slipping off the new handhold a couple of times until he wiped them on his shirt, cringing at just how wet they were. Then he’d reached the handhold and his leg was at a stupid angle, having to push himself up so he was supported on only one leg until he could just reach the last hand-hold, feeling himself losing the wall and grabbing it with a loud squeak of alarm.

“Straighten your left leg and you’ll be at the top!”

He just did as he was instructed, feeling himself suddenly rise up so his hands were around his waist, aware how easy it would be to fall back and off the wall now, panic setting in and scrabbling at the top of the wall for purchase, hearing voices telling him to calm down even as his legs tensed like rocks and he felt himself freeze in place.

“Sei, you need to relax for us, can you sit back in the harness?”

“You’re fine, babe, I’ve got you. You wanna come down?”

“Yeah but I don’t wanna let go either!” There was a touch of hysteria in his voice but there was laughter too, amused at how illogical that was even as he felt his hands sweating and his legs were beginning to shake again, uncontrollably.

“Okay, you don’t have to, you can climb down slowly if you want,” he began talking to Mizuki then, telling him to slack off the rope slowly as he made his way down, knowing it wasn’t something they’d usually encourage but having the feeling it might take a while to coax him down otherwise. “Just take it slow, we’ve got you, look, you’re nearly down now, try to let go.”

He looked down then, having known before what a terrible idea it was but now aware he hadn’t been dropped or jerked to the ground yet, taking in the distance, about twelve feet, and nodding, releasing his hands first and swinging back a little, whimpering but dangling there safely.

Then he was back on earth, fingers tingling and sweat on his forehead, taking in wide smiles and grinning back nervously, relieved to be back where he belonged and laughing weakly as he held out his shaking hands.

“Well done babe, you got all the way to the top,” Mizuki had enveloped him in a half hug and Migi was averting his eyes as if they were about to start making out or something, Sei just leaning into his husband and feeling himself slowly calm down. “You okay?”

“Mm, that was… I mean, I don’t know if I want to do it again.”

“You don’t have to, but well done, that was impressive considering you hate heights, and these walls are higher than the average climbing centre, so you did a good job. But if you wanna try out bouldering there are belay-free walls, if you’d want to keep climbing, Mizuki?”

“Belay-free?”

“Mm, I’ll show you,” he walked them across to a line of three walls in varying difficulties, some sloping outward suddenly or with outcrops you’d have to somehow climb over, Mizuki nodding approvingly. “So you clip this to your harness, then climb, and when you’re done, just let go and it’ll slowly lower you down, yeah?”  
He demonstrated, which Sei was grateful for, regarding the mechanism as if he didn’t trust it with his husband but supposing it was safe enough that he could leave him to it, agreeing easily to go try out the bouldering and leave Mizuki to scale the bigger slopes.

 

Migi demonstrated again, climbing to the top of the large, natural boulder shaped wall without rope, explaining that you should either try to climb back down, or jump off onto the thick air cushion underneath, landing on his back with a soft huff of air but otherwise unhurt. It was bizarre, at first, to fling himself into nothingness, but he landed softly every time with nothing but a light winding, and being in control of his own decent and ascent was very soothing. He began to like it quickly, it was tiring of course but he liked being able to get to the top, Migi setting him a couple of challenges, using only the yellow handgrips, then scaling a boulder double the size of the one he just had.

He managed the first quickly and Migi went back to his own practice after ensuring he knew what he was doing and was okay, the three of them each on their own activity and enjoying themselves in their own way.

 

* * *

 

 

“Mizuki, I’ve got a challenge for you,” he perked up then, nodding and letting himself be led over to the tallest bouldering wall where he could just see Sei’s feet poking over the edge, having reached the top and stopped there for a break. He held up two bottles of water, fitting them into his harness even though technically he should have taken it off as Sei had, pointing to the red route of handholds that zigzagged up the wall. “Red route only, try and get to the top and have a break.”

“Alright, I’ll try, thanks.”

“Good man,” he watched him make his way up, managing with only a little pausing to debate what to do, one leg bending so far his knee ended up by his chin and forcing himself up with sheer strength alone, making it to the top and all but flopping onto it.

“Hello,” he panted, realising that perhaps he should have taken a break earlier as his arms screamed out, his weight not exactly an insignificant load to have been holding up all day, watching Sei regard him lazily from where he lay. He handed over the drink and shuffled along the wide ledge to join him, watching Migi try to scale the lumpy, off-circular boulder in the middle of the room, “you having fun?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I can do much more though, I’m getting tired,” he admitted, gulping down cold water greedily and leaning into Mizuki’s side, wondering who else did this on their honeymoon and thinking it must be significantly uncommon.

“Okay, another half an hour then? I wanna race you up one of these,” Sei nodded his assent, not remarking that Mizuki would obviously win, just watching his husband lean over the edge and frown a second later. “One question, how are we meant to get down?”

 

* * *

 

 

“So, what did you think?” Mizuki asked as they headed back to the hotel, planning to pick up some food on the way and spend the rest of the night recovering from the most active day Sei had probably had in his entire life. Sei’s hand was still shaky in his, from exertion and continued nerves no doubt, but he was sure he hadn’t had as awful a day as he’d first anticipated.

“Hm, I think I definitely prefer the bouldering,” he considered his words for a second, managing a tired smile. “I’d go again though, it was fun.”

“So I didn’t traumatize you?” He asked, jokingly, though the moment he had revealed the surprise to Sei he’d begun to regret his decision, realising it was more a surprise for him than for Sei.

“Not this time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr @ [minky-way](http://minky-way.tumblr.com)


	24. Doing something hot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now is not the time, now is never the time

“Now today is my surprise.”

“What? How can you have planned something, you didn’t even know where we were going.”

“No, but you told Aoba and he told Noiz.”

Mizuki’s face fell then, crumpling in on itself and frowning against Sei’s skin, immediately thinking his grand surprise had been ruined by the German, “so you knew all along?”

"No, he wouldn’t tell me, but he helped me plan something. Didn’t seem fair you were the one who got to plan everything, so today our schedule is packed, you brought towels right?”

“Yeah, but we’re not by the sea.”

“Well we’re not going to the sea,” he ignored Mizuki’s pout of confusion, just sliding out of bed with a kiss on his cheek and stretching upwards, hoping today would go as well as he planned. “Now come on, get dressed, we’ll have to leave soon.”

 

* * *

 

 

There was a short train journey there, but Noiz had planned that all out for him and let him know what to do in an envelope that he’d kept sealed until that morning, directing them from the station to the small building in the mountain town they’d ended in, away from the bustle of the city their hotel was in.

“Um, Sei?”

“Yeah,” he asked, smile pleased and resplendent as they paused in front of the onsen, fading a little as Mizuki’s expression landed on him and he saw the uncertainty in his eyes, the reluctance, pausing in their steps.

“You do know I’m not allowed in onsen, right? Because of my tattoos.”

He raised an eyebrow at him, because honestly sometimes he swore Mizuki thought he was an idiot, just smiling and pulling on their linked hands so he was forced to move forwards, noticing a couple of people staring at their strange behaviour.

“I know, Noiz called ahead and made sure it was okay, since I couldn’t know where it was. And the reason I planned this is because I know you’ve never been allowed to do it, so I wanted to try it together.”

“Aw, aren’t you just the sweetest?” Mizuki’s tone was teasing as he nudged at his shoulder, making them sway in their footsteps and Sei trying to glare at him weakly, failing as his husband (and damn did he love thinking that) kissed his head messily and his ears flushed red instead.

“And anyway, we’re not going to the public bathing because I don’t want to be naked in front of a lot of strangers. So there wasn’t really much problem.”

“I don’t want you to be naked in front of strangers either.”

There was real surprise in his voice as he spoke, frowning up at him as they began climbing the steps to the entrance, traditional building decorated plainly but with pretty red window frames, steam from the hot baths rising into the air behind it. “Really? Would it bother you?”

“Maybe not here where nobody knows us, but if we went to the onsen in Midorijima I wouldn’t like it.”

“Good thing they think you’re too thuggish to let in then,” that at least was logical, because on the island tattoos really did mean you were in a gang or the Yakuza, so it made sense not to risk mixing opposing groups together, nobody wanted to go for a peaceful soak and end up in the middle of a turf war after all.

“You know, I love you but you’re an awful bully.”

 

* * *

 

 

“D’you think people ever pee in here?” There was a vague silence then, apart from the soft trickling of water and the regular, rhythmic clacking of the tilting bamboo water feature behind them, before Sei turned to the side to regard him. There was a definite unimpressed, scathing expression on his face and he’d flopped against him a little weaker, as if he’d actually given up on this, Mizuki smiling sheepishly, “just wondering.”

“You really are an awful romantic, aren’t you?”

“As in, bad at romance or really romantic?”

“The first one. Honestly, we’re on our honeymoon, in a private onsen looking up at all these stars and all you can think to ask is if people pee in here,” he actually looked mildly offended and Mizuki just wrinkled his mouth in apology, mouthing at his shoulder as he turned back around and tightening arms round his middle. “But… I mean, I wouldn’t have thought so. I guess there’s nothing to stop them though, so they might in the big ones, but not in here. I mean if you pissed now I’d divorce you.”

“That would be reasonable,” but he smiled anyway, because despite his displeasure at the question, he’d still been curious enough to consider it, to give it actual thought and clearly couldn’t be as upset as he’d seemed. But he was right, it was beautiful, their small pool of steaming hot water was surrounded by flowers and pretty foliage, rockery in one corner with water trickling down it into an ornamental pool and surrounded by a large, wooden fence with geometric patterns where they could see the mountain sloping away.

Sei had been a little horrified at first when they’d walked over to see the view, having stepped back from the fence as he realised how suddenly the mountain just disappeared, no more than four feet past the enclosure keeping them safe. But it did mean they had an amazing view, the last light had slipped away while they’d gotten showered first and now it was pitch black except the soft glow of orange light from the bathhouse behind them. Stars weren’t uncommon in Midorijima but there were never this many, they covered the sky in constellations neither of them really knew the names of, moon a dull glow compared to their twinkle.

As for the shared bath experience, it wasn’t something they’d had much success trying before, the tub in their apartment was plenty big for both of them, but Mizuki wasn’t really a bath person and the couple of times they’d tried it had ended up being too much hassle for either of them to relax. But this was nice, it was cool where their bodies emerged from the warm water and it kept both of them a reasonable temperature instead of overheating in the water the way Mizuki always did when he took baths.

There was a lot more room too, it was basically a small, round pool where they could probably swim were they to desire to, which they didn’t, staying curled up together on one side, Mizuki’s chin propped up on Sei’s shoulder and admiring the view.

“Sei.”

“Please, no more stupid comments,” he sounded exasperated but Mizuki knew he was smiling, he could hear it in his tone, feel it in the way his back fitted so neatly against his chest, in the trail of his foot over his ankle under the water.

“Mn, I was just going to say this was a really good surprise.” Sei turned to see him then, shifting against him so he was basically sat on his lap, sinking down under the water a little more as his skin turned goose-bumped in the cool air. His cheeks were flushed pink but that was just with the heat, looking pleased that it had been a good idea and remembering to try and buy Noiz something nice to thank him for arranging it, “and I love you.”

Sei had opened his mouth to speak when Mizuki continued, “and I was asking about the pee thing because I actually need to pee.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yes. Hey, do you think they’d chuck us out if I pissed over the mountain?”

“Yes! Jesus, this is like being married to a child, go pee inside like a normal human,” Mizuki had already stood, not bothering to take his towel with him, there was little need to hide his nudity after all, feeling the splat of it hitting him in the back as he walked away, turning to see Sei wading into the middle of the pool, almost hidden under the water, just a pair of dark eyes regarding him. Then he grinned and blew a kiss and Sei’s head dunked out of sight.


	25. Staring into each others eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grass is always greener on the other side of the apartment

**“Aoba, I have a question to ask your _lovely_ husband.”  
**

“Noiz? What did he do now?”

**“Well, me and Sei have woken up with a slight problem.”  
**

“Okay.”

**“We’re handcuffed together.”  
**

There was silence, then he heard a confused exhale, “okay, so you’re- Wait are you serious? Oh my god, Noiz, get in here! NOIZ!”

_“What?”_

“Those handcuffs you bought, you seriously handcuffed Mizuki and Sei together with them?”

_“Well you said you wouldn’t let me use them in the bedroom.”  
_

“Because I’m not some kind of deviant! Give me the key right now.”

_“I don’t have it.”_

**“He _what_?”**

“Mizuki shut up for a second I have to skin my husband, what do you mean, you don’t have it?!”

_“I got back last night and it wasn’t in my pocket, I was only gunna leave them like that for a couple hours.”_

“Mizuki, I’ll sort this out and ring you back.”

**“Wait, you can’t just leave us like this!”**

“Deal with it for a couple of hours, you’re already married it can’t be that bad.” And with that, he hung up and Mizuki turned to his unimpressed husband with an apologetic smile, black haired man exhaling an annoyed breath of air before flopping backwards onto the bed, dragging Mizuki with him.

 

* * *

 

 

“I have to pee,” it was announced so abruptly, so childishly and at random that for a moment Mizuki just stared at him with a raised eyebrow, wondering why he’d felt the need to tell him or to suddenly state it like a conversation opener.

“Okay... Why are you-?” He was baffled for a moment, having forgotten the events of that morning until Sei adjusted himself slightly and his hand was gently tugged along with his. “Oh, right, handcuffs.”

“Mm-hm, you’ll have to come with me, but I guess I’ve pissed in front of you before,” he shrugged, but while he had indeed urinated in the same room as him before, he’d certainly never done in it quite such close proximity.

“Ah, the romance of being married, huh?”

“Oh shut up, and come on or I’ll go right here.”

“Ew.” He just got a half-hearted shove in the head for that as they stood awkwardly, trying not to let metal dig into either wrist as they worked themselves upright and walked, almost hand in hand, to the bathroom.

 

* * *

 

“At risk of sounding callous, I really wish you weren’t here right now,” Sei looked down then, frowning before inclining his head in understanding and reaching for the toilet paper, offering it to his husband who sat, rather red-cheeked, on their toilet.

“Believe me, I wish I wasn’t here either. Honestly, you just had to need a shit today of all days.”

“Oh I apologise, I’ll tell my bowels to quit being so regular, shall I?”

“Please.”

He hummed then, fully aware they might be there for a while because while he’d never heard of poo-fright being a thing, he certainly had it right now and he really didn’t want Sei to be involved in his shitting process. “When you need to shit, you need to shit. But did he have to cuff my dominant hand? How am I supposed to wipe?”

Sei didn’t respond to that for a moment, just closed his eyes and leaned back against the bathroom wall, trying to remind himself that this was all just temporary and that tomorrow he’d never need to have this conversation ever again. “Well I’m not doing it for you.”

“You don’t say. I don’t want to remember you wiping my ass next time you eat me out.”

“Oh fucking hell, Mizuki that’s disgusting! Now would you hurry up this is ridiculous and if the delivery guy arrives mid-shit we’re screwed.”

“I’m making Noiz pay us back for that, it’s his fault we can’t cook.”

“You mean _I_ can’t cook,” Sei remarked, averting his eyes as something finally happened, trying to wipe the sound of his husband pooing out of his memory and staring insistently against a small fleck of red shower gel on the opposite wall as he finally flushed and stood. “You never cook anyway.”

“Because I’d set the house on fire,” he remarked, Sei turning the tap on as he squirted hand wash into his palms and set about washing his hands and one of his husbands in the process. “And arguing while cuffed together is a horrible idea so let’s try not to do that, okay? Aoba said he can always go to Heibon tomorrow and cut us apart if Noiz still hasn’t found the key, it’ll be fine.”

“Mm, I guess I can bear you for that long.”

“Aren’t you sweet.”

“I’m trying my best, alright, It’s not exactly normal to-“ The delivery guy chose exactly that moment to knock on the door and derail the disagreement they’d been about to have, Sei feeling trapped all too literally and wishing he could have just five minutes to himself. He sighed instead, shaking his head apologetically and helping Mizuki dry their hands off, “sorry, no fighting, right. But how are we meant to answer the door?”

 

* * *

 

 

“I’m phoning them again, this is ridiculous,” Mizuki just nodded in agreement, staring blankly at the ceiling and wondering how conjoined twins managed this, supposing they were very used to it and realising in the same moment what an odd thought that was. But then the video call connected and Sei had burst into demands already, “it’s been two days, I know you love him but I won’t hesitate to come over and beat him to death with a shoe.”

“Why a shoe?”

“That’s not important! Did he find the key?”

“What key?” Noiz now, coming into the small screen and looking legitimately confused, veins bulging in both Aoba and Sei’s foreheads even as the more colourful twin grabbed his husband by the sleeve rather aggressively.

“The one for the handcuffs! You know, since you attached them together?” Noiz paused for a minute, tilting his head to the side, then a shitty grin spread on his face and he reached into his shirt pocket, tiny silver key glinting as Mizuki finally roused himself from his ‘done with life’ pose and stared blankly at the screen.

“This one?” The barrage of verbal and physical assault from Aoba came so abruptly both the viewers flinched, watching as he whacked at his husband with open palms that couldn’t hurt much but had him trying to scuttle away even as his face turned red with annoyance.

“You had it all along? Noiz what the hell!” This was Mizuki, sounding infuriated and irritated and tired all at once, growling and sinking back into the couch to groan into his hand self pityingly as Sei’s rage began to build.

“I thought it might be fun.”

“Fun? FUN? I’m on the verge of cutting my own hand off to get away from him!” He saw Mizuki’s head tilt towards him at that and knew he’d heard but would probably understand too, Sei was an introvert at heart and too much time with anybody made him go insane, whether he was married to them or not. “I had to watch him shit yesterday! Then we had to shower and I got shampoo in my eye and nearly went blind because washing your hair one handed is pretty hard! You get over here _right now_ or I will burn your house down and shave your rabbits bald!”

The arson threat didn’t seem to bother him at all, but the mention of his beloved rabbits had his eyes widening minutely and a slightly alarmed expression blooming on his face, Aoba reassuring them they’d be right over and yanking Noiz out of view by his ear.

 

* * *

 

 

He tore the apartment door open the minute the knock sounded, dragging Mizuki across the room with him and ignoring his alarmed yelp of pain as hard metal dug into his soft wrist, just watching Aoba shove Noiz inside with a face like thunder.

“Undo them, right now.”

He really was like a child, face pouting and upset, like he’d been scolded which judging the expressions of everybody else’s faces, he certainly would be if he hadn’t been enough already, just taking their joined hands and unlocking them smoothly, somehow managing to make it seem like it was him they were inconveniencing.

The moment the handcuffs were off and he was free, Mizuki turned to face Sei, placing one hand on each cheek and gazing deep into his black-brown eyes, smiling thinly and his husband rubbing at his wrist where the cuffs had chafed.

“Sei, I love you, but if I ever have to be with you 24/7 again, I will go completely insane.”

Sei just stared back, looking at the familiar green eyes, flecked with hazel and the tiniest sliver of blue in the left one, cupping the hands on his face, “I entirely agree, now please can you go away so I don’t kill you?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

There was a pause then in which Sei just allowed himself the freedom to really appreciate being able to break away from Mizuki when he did, growing calm and reassurance that it was all over dying as Noiz spoke. “You guys are weird.”

“You!” Sei rounded on him so fast he actually flinched, ducking back almost behind his husband who frowned and moved away, fully aware he deserved every bit of Sei’s anger, just regarding his scowling twin with mild surprise. “If you ever, _ever_ do anything like this to me and Mizuki again, or to anybody else, I will rip every single piercing out of your dick and rub salt into them, and yes I know you have a pierced dick, Aoba tells me everything. Now take these handcuffs back, we already have a pair, and Aoba, stop pretending to be so vanilla, you’re not fooling anybody.”

The knowledge that his brother apparently owned handcuffs was alarming enough to him without now being accused of being some kind of deviant, married to Noiz or not he didn’t appreciate that title. “I- He- Sei! You’re vanilla too!”

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” Mizuki remarked, raising his eyebrows with a grin, Sei just shoving his head good naturedly as he walked to the kitchen, Noiz smirking in amusement and Aoba’s cheeks turning pink.

“You two are _both_ perverts.”

“That’s debatable,” that was Mizuki again, and Aoba looked so much like a tomato by now that when Sei re-entered the room with a mug of coffee he laughed aloud, patting him reassuringly on the shoulder. “I’m sure he could give you some great tips.”

Aoba was very pink in the face, tips of his ears beet red and spreading down to his chest as he just grabbed his husband who was regarding Sei with amused curiosity, snorting when he just shrugged with a sly smile. “We’re going home, have fun being apart.”

“Have fun being together.”


	26. With Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's different when its yours. Or when it's kinda yours for the day

“I can’t believe we finally get to meet her today, I’m so excited!” They were, not for the first time, a total contrast of moods today, Sei was all sunbeams and rainbows and good-natured excitement, and Mizuki looked like he’d started his day by crawling naked out a thorn bush and it had only gone downhill from there.

“I’m not, I’m horrible with kids, I know she’ll hate me.”

“Don’t be stupid, she loves her Uncle Mizuki.”

“She hasn’t even met me yet, how can she love me? And please don’t call me that it makes me sound so old.” He was aware he was whinging but he felt perfectly entitled to, he’d lain awake a lot of the night before being nervous about this, worrying he’d do something stupid or that she’d just cry the moment she saw him and everything would be ruined, he was tired and he felt really stressed about this whole thing.

“Fine, I won’t. But how come you’re so grouchy today, hm?”

“She’s going to hate me,” he repeated it with mild incredulity, because he’d already said it once and he’d meant it then too, Sei’s disbelieving eyebrow fading as he realised he was being deadly serious, as he clarified that. “I’m not joking, she genuinely is.”

“Oh, Mizuki, are you really worried about that?”

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know how to talk to a kid, what if I talk to her like a baby and she gets offended? Or I use big words she doesn’t get?”

“You never use big words.”

“Shut up, I’m serious!”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” he stopped them then, yanking on his hand to cease the movement of his feet, forcing his overgrown baby of a husband to look at him and trying to reassure him the best he could, knowing it wouldn’t go as badly as he seemed to think. “Look, we’ve spoken to her on webcam before, right? You spoke to her fine then.”

“Yeah, with you prompting me and nudging me every four seconds and correcting me.”

“I’ll be there to do that today, don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Besides, you’re allowed to be awkward if you’re never around kids normally.”

“Hm. Wait, wait, you aren’t going to leave me alone with her, are you?”

“Oh don’t be ridiculous, of course I won’t. It’ll be fine,” he leaned up to kiss him then, quickly though because they were going to be late if they weren’t careful and Noiz was bizarrely obsessed with punctuality since they’d moved to Germany. “Now smile, we’re nearly there and you don’t want to scare her.”

 

* * *

 

“Uncle Sei, Uncle Sei!” There was a small lump of auburn-copper hair on his husband the second they stepped inside, having run over like a small, badly coordinated blur to latch herself onto his legs excitedly. Luckily it meant Sei was too distracted to see him muttering to himself that he’d been right all along and she hated him already, Noiz looking amused as Sei managed the first meeting with grace and excitement and Mizuki practically tried to shake her hand.

“Hi! Oh wow, your hair is so pretty, Rosie!”

“Dad did it for me!”

“Which ones Dad again?” The issue with having two fathers was that you couldn’t call them both daddy, that would get confusing, and while they’d explained to Mizuki before which one was called what, it was easy enough to forget. He needn’t have asked through because he could already see Aoba’s ridiculously proud face as Sei tugged Rosie’s plait teasingly, her blabbering on about ribbons or something and Noiz just looking on fondly.

“Uncle Mizuki, why do you look so sad?!” Her gaze was on him so fast he actively balked, alarmed at her accusatory tone and the point of her small finger at him, nobody else seeming surprised by this sudden topic change and leaving him to do nothing but stutter uselessly.

“Uh-“

“He didn’t sleep very well, makes him grouchy,” they both laughed then and Noiz looked deeply amused by how out of his depth Mizuki was, Sei entirely abandoning him to bond with his niece and barely speaking to him for the rest of breakfast.

 

* * *

 

 

“We were thinking of asking if you wanted to take her out for the day?” Aoba paused then, correcting himself and smiling, "Well, she’s been pestering us about it and we could really use a nap, this jetlag is killing us.”

“Um, whe-“

“Sure! Oh come on, Mizuki! Please?”

“Fine, do what you want.”

“You could try and seem a little less miserable about the idea,” this was Aoba, frowning as if he’d personally offended his daughter with his lack of enthusiasm, Mizuki feeling both increasingly guilty and distressed by this whole situation.

“Right sorry. Yeah, um, you wanna spend the day with us Rosie? We could, er, go to the park, and then get an ice-cream.” Kids like parks right? And to his knowledge there were also remarkably few children who didn’t like ice-cream or the premise of treats in general.

“She’s lactose intolerant.” If Mizuki hadn’t suddenly remembered that himself he’d be certain Noiz had said it just to test him, raising an eyebrow in pleased surprise when he corrected himself smoothly and Rosie just nodded excitedly, mouth full of eggs.

“Or an ice-lolly.”

 

* * *

 

The moment he returned from escorting Rosie towards the equipment, Sei spoke, not sure if he was amused or concerned at the odd way his hand kept lingering just short of her shoulder or head, “you know, Mizuki, you’re allowed to touch her, she is your niece.”

“I know, I know, I just… I’m not good with kids, like does she need us to hold her hand? I don’t know… I don’t know what to do around her.”

“Relax, okay? If she doesn’t like you I’m pretty sure you’d know, she’s hardly subtle.”

“She’s been around Noiz too long.”

“Hm, maybe,” his amusement faded a little then and he knew his smile was already too secretive for Mizuki to not suspect something, just carrying on and bringing up the issue as if it wasn’t already decided. “But, um, Aoba and Noiz had a really long flight here today. And Rosie was so super excited she asked if she could stay with us. And I may have said yes.”

“Sei!”

“It’s just for tonight, oh please? She’s so precious and we might not see her again for ages after this week,” he was using all the begging techniques, the big wide eyes, the slightly stuck out bottom lip and this horribly desperate expression that always made him feel terrible.

“Don’t do the puppy dog eyes on me! But fine, I guess she can stay, where’s she gunna sleep?”

“Sofa-bed.” He answered as if this had already been decided and he reluctantly guessed it much have been, just considering that it was only one day and he’d probably manage to not send her to hospital or somehow mentally disturb her.

 

* * *

 

“I’m tired.”

“Yeah? Want Uncle Mizuki to carry you?” Despite her seeming exhaustion after breakfast, a couple of hours at the park, a treat of some new shoes, then lunch out, then yet more running around as Sei suggested a game of high and seek in the nearby woods, then stopping for dinner, she was suddenly very enthusiastic, small hands in the air and cheering.

“Yeah!”

Mizuki’s face had dropped instantly and he was staring at Sei as if he’d just announced he was leaving him for another man, betrayed and horrified, his husband just speaking to Rosie the exact thought he had. “You’ll have to hold on super tight, okay?”

“Mm-hm, I know he won’t drop me,” Mizuki knelt down and two small arms wrapped around his neck, hoisting her up and Sei giving him a look that said he was being ridiculous, Rosie perfectly happy up there as they continued home.

She’d been babbling on for the first couple of streets, but her voice got quieter and eventually died out, Sei confirming that she was asleep and that they should put her straight to bed when they got in.

 

* * *

 

 

“She’s super into dinosaurs, huh?" Mizuki asked, turning down their bed and removing the stupid bed runner Sei insisted on, apparently it made the room look nicer, the bartender not stupid enough to start an argument over something that small.

“It’s cute, at least it’s not pink and unicorns and sparkles. Though I wouldn’t mind that either,” Sei smiled, shrugging at Mizuki’s horrified expression, trying to work out how much more uncomfortable he would have been had she turned up in an all pink ensemble complete with glitter and a princess attitude. No, he much preferred her in the bright dino print shirt and plain jeans she’d been wearing, having apparently dressed herself, something Aoba seemed thrilled about but which Mizuki didn’t understand the enthusiasm behind.

“Her favourites are tyrannosaur dilong.”

“How do you know that?” He looked and sounded genuinely surprised, almost as surprised as Mizuki was that he’d remembered the name after an entire day, pausing with the pillow he was plumping and face growing warmer when he answered.

“She told me, you went to the bathroom and left me with her, I asked if she liked dinosaurs and she didn’t shut up until you came back. Apparently she was so sad she couldn’t get one as a pet Noiz said he’d get her a lizard but Aoba said no. Sounded like it was a whole thing.”

“See? I told her you could talk to her fine, all you need to do with a kid her age is bring up something they like or might like and they’ll talk for both of you. Also, I totally left you with her on purpose sorry, not sorry,” he dodged the pillow aimed at his head easily, scolding him because if they woke Rosie up she’d be grouchy and that was the last thing they needed, not realising until they lay down how much the day had worn them out too.

 

* * *

 

A tiny voice woke him, rolling onto his side to see the bedroom door ajar and a small shape stood there, baffled for a moment then remembering, forehead crinkling in concern as he noticed the clock said it was still very early in the morning. “Rosie, you okay?”

“I’m thirsty.”

“Yeah? Alright, I’m coming,” four am, at four am she chose to be both awake, thirsty, and unable to get herself a drink, Sei not stirring next to him and just remaining in the blissful slumbers of sleep as he yanked a shirt on and climbed out of bed. It was dark in the hallway beyond but he knew the apartment well enough to travel through it in the dim light, thinking perfectly logically that turning on the light might both wake Sei and render Rosie utterly unable to be resettled in bed. “Get back into bed, I’ll bring it, okay?”

“Okay Uncle Mizuki,” luckily it was too dark for her to see his exasperated expression, feeling about a million years older at that sentence and just rolling his eyes as he walked into the kitchen to try and find a plastic cup he could give her.

He was rubbing gunk out of his eyes, yawning and tasting sleep on his tongue, grimacing at the taste and had just opened a cupboard when he heard a crash, then a bang of some kind of impact, drink forgotten.

“Rosie?” Screw not waking her up now, that hadn’t sounded good and he became aware of a growing sense of unease as he flicked on the lamp and saw his niece, sprawled on the floor with her leg at a funny angle and confused expression turning into one of pain and delayed shock. Her mouth was open and she was wailing in seconds, him left to figure out what had happened and working it out quick, she’d tripped over the shoebox containing her new trainers and had presumably hit her head on the hard dining table leg. “Oh, sweetie, hey, hey, it’s okay, don’t cry.”

Talking to her wasn’t doing anything and it was so horrible to see her upset he’d moved forwards and scooped her up easily, hands in her armpits and raising her to bury her head in his shoulder, supporting her butt and legs around his side, balancing her on his hip.

“Shh, shh, you’re okay, don’t cry. You’re alright sweetie,” he might seem composed and like he knew what he was doing, but short of comforting her he was panicking, half torn between ringing Noiz and Aoba, and waking Sei in case she was actually hurt. Her messy coppery hair was in his face and he spoke into it, kissing her scalp and bouncing her a little, rubbing her back as her wailing got more hiccup-y, shushing and reassuring her in equal measure.

“Mizuki? What happened?”

“She fell into the table,” he explained, regarding his husband who looked more alarmed than sleepy, presumably having woken up to the sound of crying and been as worried as anybody would have been, eyes widening and approaching to do what Mizuki had failed to so far, check she was okay and wasn’t bleeding or anything.

“Oh, honey, did you hit your head? Hm? Does it still hurt?” She nodded her head to both questions, turning out of Mizuki’s shoulder to look at Sei with a wobbly bottom lip that made his heart do unfair flip-flopping things. He pushed her hair off his forehead to check for a bump, smoothing over her face gently and smiling softly when she just sniffled, looking deflated but not quite as upset now, the horrible crying that had woken him up gone now.

“Sei, help, I don’t know what to do,” the panic had overtaken him now and Sei’s appearance had been like a ray of hope, his other half, his better half would surely know what to do and he was more than willing to hand her over before he damaged her for life somehow. Bouncing her on his hip and almost certain she must have some kind of internal bleeding that would be entirely his fault for not watching her and being a terrible uncle. “Please take her.”

“Considering you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re doing pretty well.” Mizuki was aware he was being unreasonable, but he was also aware Sei was being remarkably objectionable today, not offering to help and instead almost forcing him to deal with it.

“Should we take her to the hospital?”

“She’s fine, there’s just a little bump,” he was sure that was the case, stroking Rosie’s hair and smiling at her, Mizuki still bouncing her a little on his hip, seemingly unconsciously. “You’re okay now, right, Rosie?”

“Mm-hm.”

“See? It’s fine, and before you say it, no, we don’t need to phone Aoba and Noiz either, they need their sleep and accidents happen, we can just tell them tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah, you scared me, Rosie,” he wasn’t telling her off but it was the truth, he’d been suitably horrified to see her lying on the floor and to know she’d gotten hurt in their care, in his specifically.

“I’m sorry, I’m fine now,” she sniffed, manging a smile and wiping her nose along her sleeve, much to Sei’s chagrin, getting some tissue to mop her up with and settling her into their bed as she insisted, Mizuki absently fiddling with her hair until she fell asleep partially on Sei’s lap and they could lie her down properly.

 

* * *

 

 

“And then I smashed my head open and blood went everywhere-“ Aoba’s alarmed expression was so overdone Mizuki might have laughed, had it not been directed his way, even Noiz looking startled and raising an eyebrow at Sei who just shook his head to say that was a massive exaggeration.

“Is that right, honey?” The German asked, ignoring his husband’s triple chin of confusion as nobody explained to him that this daughter had in fact not suffered a traumatic head injury and had just gotten a slight bump that had gone down by the next morning.

“Yeah! And then Uncle Mizuki freaked out and kept saying I needed to go to the hospital but it was okay and I slept in their bed,” she was an infinitely squirmy child it seemed and it was all Sei could do to not let her fall out of his lap, arms flung about wildly and almost hitting him a couple of times, though he didn’t seem to mind.

“Mizuki, you want to explain?” Aoba looked about ready to kill him, well, in between trying to examine his wriggling daughter and wondering why Noiz was being so relaxed anyway, but his death glares weren’t exactly nice.

“Uh…”

“She tripped and hit her head on the dining table, she was fine after like five minutes of Mizuki panicking and insisting I take her even though he was doing fine,” Aoba looked relieved instantly then, relaxing back into her seat and just sending Rosie an unimpressed expression, silently telling her not to tell lies.

“Wait, wait, Mizuki dealt with it? Was she crying?”

“Bawling more like, it was horrible,” Rosie objected then, loudly remarking that she had done no such thing and only placated when Noiz replied that he was sure she’d been very brave, returning to Sei’s lap with only a mildly grumpy expression.

 “But you’re awful with kids.”

“Yes, I know, thank you,” he hadn’t meant to sound mean, but being constantly reminded of one of his flaws wasn’t nice and he suddenly felt a little baffled as he explained how he’d apparently gotten into the swing of looking after a kid. “I don’t know, she was crying so I just picked her up. It’s not nice when kids cry.”

“I didn’t cry!” But then Rosie interjected again and the topic was forgotten.

 

* * *

 

**SOME TIME LATER**

“Did you see the email Noiz and Aoba sent?”

“Oh, no, not yet, what’s it say?”

“Not much, just the usual, but apparently Rosie’s taken up skateboarding.”

“She’s done what?”

“Mm-hm, she saw it on TV and wanted to try so Noiz is paying for her to get lessons, apparently Aoba is less than impressed.”

“Well he would be.”

“There’s a picture,” Mizuki crossed the room then, recognising her gingery hair and snorting at her expression, utterly unimpressed as she stood there next to her board wearing both elbow and knee pads as well as the customary helmet. But more amusing was Aoba in the background looking deeply distressed as she reached out to, presumably, remove one elbow pad, clearly against his wishes.

“Oh wow, she’s certainly bundled up enough. But, I was actually wondering yesterday, isn’t her tenth birthday coming up?”

“Mm-hm.”

“I was thinking maybe we could go see her? I mean, if you wanted to.”

“You’ve sure changed your tune, you were terrified to meet her.”

“Yes alright, she is my niece,” he turned around then only so Sei couldn’t see his pink cheeks, honestly, he was bad with kids and they mocked him, then he got better and he was still mocked. He felt like he couldn’t win, at least until Sei plopped down beside him three hours later with his coil open to show plane tickets to Germany.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr @ [minky-way](http://minky-way.tumblr.com)


	27. Watching a Movie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You only find out what happens next when you refuse to pause

“Is he awake?”

“Yeah! He seems alright, just a bit of a concussion the doctor said.”

“Oh good, what happened? I didn’t really listen to Noiz after he said he was in hospital, I’m on my way over right now but I’ll still be like quarter of an hour.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s okay, the Doctor wants to do a couple more tests anyway so you’ll be fine. He fell at work, down the stairs, apparently there’s like thirty of them, tripped over a discarded shoe box or something, hit his head at the bottom. It’s a bit swollen but he’ll be fine, just a mistake, and his boss looked so horrified he’s bound to get a pay rise or damage money or something.”

“I’m not really bothered about money right now, has he said anything yet?” Money wasn’t an issue they’d ever had and somehow gaining massive compensation was the last thing on his mind right now, just focused on dodging people in the now infuriatingly packed street as he raced to the hospital.

“Nah, Nurses kicked us out when he opened his eyes, by the time you’re here hopefully we’ll be able to go in.”

“Great, but listen, I can run faster when I’m not talking.”

“Mm-hm, see you in a bit, and stop panicking, everything’s fine.”

“I’ll believe that when I see him. Bye, Aoba.”

 

* * *

 

There were two people in the room when the nurse had left, smiling at him and saying his brother was here, he just nodded mechanically because his memories seemed to be a little fuzzy but he supposed it was nice he’d come to see him.

“Sei! How’s your head feel?”

“Mm, a little sore,” he felt awkward, staring between the two men in the room, trying to work out which one was his brother, noticing shiny rings on both their left hands and wondering if they were married then looking down at his own hand and realising _he_ was married.

“Oh, I’m glad you’re okay. Mizuki’s on the way right now.”

“Oh, okay,” he had no idea who that was, just nodding because that was polite, he was hardly about to announce into these people’s faces that he had no idea who they were, they obviously knew him and he knew to be polite in situations like this.

 

* * *

 

“Aoba, everything okay?” A third man now, poking his head into the room nervously, expression gaunt and looking bizarrely sweaty, smile breaking out across his face and so fond Sei felt unnerved by it as their eyes met.

“Yep, he’s fine, little confused but it’s all good.”

“Great, I ran all the way from the bar,” he was explaining something to them, reading something on the chart the nurse had left behind and Sei was just trying to figure out whether that meant he was an alcoholic, or worked as a bartender. He was too busy being confused and overwhelmed and feeling awkward in this room of basic strangers who all knew him well, to even notice this new man, Mizuki approaching. He jumped back though, actively jerking in the bed as he moved in closer, lips touching his cheek affectionately, recoiling from the touch in alarm because this man had to know him but Sei didn’t remember him and it was like being kissed by a stranger.

All three sets of eyes on him now were a little more worried, sharp green at the end of his bed narrowing as he chewed a pierced lip, Sei feeling scared suddenly as the man at his side drew back and frowned, reaching for him again then realising his mistake and stopping as Sei watched his hand warily.

“Sei, babe, what wrong?”

“Nothing, just, um- Sorry, I think I’m still a bit concussed.”

“That would make sense, you were unconscious for a little while,” seemingly reassured he smiled then, a rough hand coming to shift his hair off his forehead, stuttering again as he tensed up instantly, not able to register what about this man meant he was supposed to be okay with this level of contact.

“I- Er, sorry, this is going to sound horribly rude to all of you, but, I can’t really remember you. I recognise you all but I can’t seem to…” He frowned then because faces had fallen, plummeted, eyes widening in shock and seemingly tears building in amber so maybe that was his brother and the blonde was his husband?

Then the silence was over and the man who had to be his husband if their rings meant anything, spoke, with a slightly laugh as if he thought this was all some elaborate joke, smile fading as he just lay there in bed looking lost. “Sei you, you really can’t remember us? Not even me?”

“Not really, um, are you my husband?”

“Yeah, Sei. I’m your husband.” But he spoke so flatly, so emotionlessly that he may as well have been the stranger Sei thought he was.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, Sei.”

“Hi,” now he knew Mizuki was his husband he felt worse for being so distant, for smiling awkwardly at his unintentionally warm greeting, clearing his throat when his gaze got too intense. “What did the doctors say?”

“It should wear off soon, the forgetfulness, apparently its common with head injuries. So, they said you can come home, if you want to.” This was awkward and he knew it normally wasn’t, Mizuki was shifting from foot to foot, eyes flickering around the room or resting on his too long, as if imploring him to remember how they normally were.

“Mm, okay,” he agreed easily, because memory or not, this was his husband, somebody he had chosen to spend the rest of his life with and there couldn’t be anybody better to be with while he tried to remember the foggy spaces in his mind. “We live… Above something, right?”

“Yeah,” he looked surprised he’d remembered even that, hope flickering in his eyes as he continued, seeing Sei’s memory lapse again and finishing quietly. “Above my bar.”

 

He’d lingered uncomfortably while he got ready to leave, turning around as if checking for something in the jacket he’d ditched earlier, a bad excuse for looking away as Sei slid out of his hospital gown and back into his black jeans and work t-shirt. But then his trainers had been back on again and he was ready to go, keeping space between them as they walked after the first time Mizuki had reached for his hand and he’d moved away, guilt gnawing at his stomach.

 

* * *

 

“So, you wanna watch a movie or something?” The issue was how to fill their time together when they were virtual strangers now, Sei remembering the apartment and everything about it but lingering awkwardly after a bathroom visit and changing into sweats and a hoodie that he didn’t recall wasn’t his.

“Mm, okay. You can pick one, I… I’m not sure what I like, I think…” He paused then, wrinkling his lip and sighing with a gentle smile a moment later, shrugging as if to say that the hazy memory he’d been forming had died too fast for him to grasp it. “Hm, I’m not sure.”

“You like animations, like Ghibli, and horror, which doesn’t make much sense. Pick a genre and we can watch your favourite.”

“Horror?”

“Twenty-eight days later it is, oh, I was gunna order pizza, do you want what you always get?”

“I’m not sure I can remember what that is. I remembered I’m vegetarian though.”

“Well that’s good, but you get sweetcorn, peppers, mushroom, red onion and-“

“Pineapple.” He interjected without even realising, word having come into his head and out of his mouth in the same breath, surprised as Mizuki was that he’d remembered, smiling with genuine happiness as his husbands eyes softened.

“Yeah, see, you’re remembering.”

“I wish I could remember you better,” his smile died again then and Sei instantly wished he hadn’t said anything, because the truth though it was, it had to hurt to be reminded that his husband had almost entirely forgotten him, guilt lacing his tone and feeling oddly like crying. “I’m sorry, it must be really crappy having your husband forget who you are.”

“Not the best, but it’s fine, not like you fell on purpose, and the doctor said you should have regained everything in a couple weeks,” neither of them were sure they believed that, but Sei nodded and smiled instead and changed the subject, feeling at home in this place and getting them both drinks easily as Mizuki ordered food.

 

* * *

 

 

The movie was okay, company wise at least, and since it was his apparent favourite Sei was very much enjoying re-viewing it for what would basically be the first time, eating his pizza and pretending not to notice every single time Mizuki caught himself getting too close.

He wondered how they normally sat, whether they were the cuddling up type or whether one hogged the entire couch and lay over the other, getting lost up in imaginings he couldn’t quite prove were right or wrong.

“You always close your eyes at this bit.”

“I do? Why?” His question was answered a second later and he cringed rather violently, noise of disgust leaving him as the only super gory bit of the movie happened, grossly wet sounds coming from the violent scene on the screen, smiling queasily as he blinked rather abruptly. “Never mind, I get why.”

Mizuki just laughed then, and his arm had come to rest along the back of the couch, fingers absently playing with his hair and so much fondness in his eyes Sei felt his heart jolt and for a second he almost remembered everything. But then Mizuki apologised and moved away and he’d lost it again, just quietly saying it was okay and eating another slice.

 

* * *

 

 They watched another movie after that, ending just as Sei began yawning and Mizuki remembered what the doctor had said about ensuring he got plenty of rest to allow his brain to recover faster, turning off the set and atmosphere turning a million times more uncomfortable.

“I can, uh, sleep on the couch, if you want?”

“No, it’s fine, you’re my husband. Even if I don’t really remember. Other than…” The memories came back at the strangest times, suddenly remembering a friend with tears in his eyes and recalling himself feeling both sorry for him and being amused at the same time. “Clear, he dropped his slice of cake, right?” Mizuki just nodded, watching Sei try to remember the rest of the story they’d probably be telling for years to come. “Then he started crying even though there was more cake, and then… Then.”

Mizuki watched the memory fade, saw the concentration thick in Sei’s eyes as he tried his hardest to cling onto the wispy tendrils of the past, falling away and filling in the blank for him even as he was unsure whether that was helping or hindering. “Mink gave him his slice.”

“Oh, yeah, of course he did.” He nodded but it was slow and he wasn’t happy, it was obvious, excusing himself to get ready for bed and brush his teeth if only to take some deep breaths and try to control the horrible emptiness in his chest that he just couldn’t ignore.

 

* * *

 

“I was thinking, when we watched the film. That it might be kind of nice, not remembering you properly. Means I can fall in love with you again,” he looked embarrassed, cheeks really pink and averting his eyes only to look back and shrug, looking like he regretted saying something so mortifying, laughing a little weakly, looking unnerved as Mizuki’s smile faded and he swallowed thickly.

“Sei,” his voice was sad and small, a little bit lost and his eyes almost looked a little wetter than they should be, gazing at him almost imploringly, begging him to remember, to not forget everything they’d been through together, everything they were.

“Sorry, I’m probably making this worse. But I’ll remember, Mizuki, I already remember lots of stuff. This isn’t some crappy drama, I’m not going to be like this forever,” he must have sensed how distraught he was, suddenly this atmosphere, this quietness where he couldn’t pretend everything was fine, because he moved a hand to stroke hair off his forehead cautiously, smiling nervously even as he did so. But then Mizuki’s eyes crinkled and he averted his gaze, Sei sighing and hand dropping back into the empty space between them, “you’re so familiar.”

He knew he shouldn’t, had felt Sei’s discomfort, his uncomfortable, out of his depth mood all day, had seen him shy away from his touches and jerk back from affection like you would if an utter stranger were to try and embrace you, stiff under his fingers and cold even as his smile tried to apologise in words he couldn’t summon. So he knew it was a stupid idea when he closed the distance between him to kiss him, cupping his cheek first as if allowing him time to move away, to tell him to get off or do anything that Sei would never do, but still there was no time and he was kissing him before he could even register it.

He’d sucked in a surprised breath, turning solid and stiff under his hand as he moved back feeling worse than he had all day because he’d never known Sei to be so hard with him, knowing it wasn’t his fault but still feeling his chest tear open. Then a second of stillness between them where he felt his throat grow painfully thick and his eyes began to burn, blinking stubbornly because Sei felt guilty about this already and he refused to make it worse.

Sei sighed then, long and sad, and if he’d been able to see better he might have seen the pain on his expression as he tentatively leaned back in, shifting closer to him, across the bed so he almost lay in his arms as he normally would, curling one hand into his chest and not knowing what to say.

“I half thought kissing you might make you remember,” his voice was damp and when he swallowed it was a little thick, letting the hand that came to twine with his stay there even as the touch felt both foreign and horribly familiar, smiling thinly and trying to reassure the best he could.

“We’re not in a movie, Mizuki, all we can do is wait.”

“Together.” It was blurted, like he hadn’t meant to say it, but Sei just smiled and found himself increasingly at home.

“Mm, of course. Haven’t we always been that way?”


	28. Cosplaying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Birds of a feather...

He could see Sei was busy, but he knew if he didn’t at least bring this up that he’d forget, watching Sei make a final note on the form he was filling in and turning to regard him as he entered the room, “I have a costume idea and a question.”

“Mm-hm, question first then.”

“If we dressed as Aoba and Noiz, would that count as cosplay?”

“Um, oh, I don’t know. Is that the costume idea?” Mizuki nodded, settling onto the spare seat of the couch and carefully moving a stack of papers aside, not bothering to look at them because he knew what they were for and his own were downstairs waiting for him.

“It’s pretty good… Well cosplay just means costume play, so I guess it sort of counts? I think we should just do it anyway, I could probably actually get their clothes too, so we wouldn’t even have to put in any effort.”

“Except our hair.” That was the biggest problem he could see, also the fact that he was a damn sight more dark skinned than Noiz was, but he supposed to even try and emulate his pale European complexion would be more than a little problematic.

“Oh, yeah, we could get wigs I guess? Or just dye it.”

“No. No. Never again,” sudden flashbacks of his hair being a horrible, sickly green bile colour had filled his mind just when he thought he’d finally forgotten that awful incident, Sei just smirking teasingly as he shook his head as if to shake it out. “And you do realise if you bleach your hair it’ll take forever and kill it. We’re getting wigs. Now, where could I get a blue mullet from?”

He knew Mizuki was just trying to rile him up, but ever since he’d mentioned his brother’s hair being similar to the terrible style that was a mullet, he’d neither been able to forget it nor hide how horrified he was by that.

“Aoba does not have a mullet!”

“Oh please, it’s like the 80’s had a revival and only he got invited.”

As jokes about it went, that one was pretty good and all Sei could do was hide a laugh behind a cough and whack Mizuki with his papers, reminding him to get going so the process wouldn’t take any longer.

* * *

 

Sei managed to steal the clothes very easily, just visiting Aoba and Noiz one night and taking a trip to the toilet that took longer than it should, complaining of stomach trouble when questioned and drawing a soft ‘ew’ from his twin and no other objections. They fit alright, Aoba was a little bigger than Sei so he was good, and Noiz wasn’t a lot smaller than Mizuki so while his clothes were a little tight they were at least wearable, though Mizuki did complain about them looking stupid the whole way to the party where they’d decided to sneak in.

* * *

 

“Hey, Hase, where’s your cost-“ There was a brief second in which Sei turned, and Noiz noticed the waist he’d grabbed hold of was too slim to be his husbands, actually making a strangled noise of alarm but not releasing him, eyes narrowing as Sei smiled coyly. “Why are you dressed as my husband?”

“Oh, you didn’t see Mizuki yet?”

Noiz just stared at him for a moment, letting Sei turn to give him a greeting hug before releasing him and unsure how he felt about him being in Aoba’s clothes, then realisation came and he deadpanned the words, “he’s me, isn’t he?”

“Sure is. I stole your clothes when I came over the other week.”

“You’re a sneaky little shit and definitely the evil twin.” He didn’t look too upset by that and just let himself be pulled under one arm as Noiz examined his wig with interest, seemingly pleased enough that he hadn’t also shaved Aoba and made his hair into a wig.

“Glad my efforts have been recognised. Also, you call Aoba ‘bunny’? That’s adorable, what does he call you?” He wasn’t even mocking him, it was genuinely cute, but of course he took it that way and clammed up immediately.

“He doesn’t have a nickname for me.”

Sei shot him the most offended look then, aware his intelligence was being questioned purely by the blatant lie he’d just been told, smile widening as Aoba entered the room a moment later, unseen by his husband who was still almost cuddling Sei.

“I know he looks like me, Kürbis, but please let go of him.”

He’d lit up at the pet name, the only word in the sentence in German, presumably a mixture of consideration for his brother’s native tongue, and because he wasn’t the best at speaking the language yet either, frowning as he realised he was also terrible at speaking German and had only learnt the word bunny to bother Noiz. “Oh, I don’t know what that means.”

“Good,” Noiz almost glared, releasing Sei after giving him a more conventional hug, still annoyed he’d been tricked and had mistaken him for Aoba despite the blatant differences he could see now he was closer.

“And I’m going to find your husband and skin him.”

“Okay, have fun.”

* * *

 

Mizuki was easy enough to find, he looked ridiculous anyway and Noiz had to admit that his late teens hadn’t been a good time for him, fashion-wise, the bartender just smirking wide at him and looking so pleased with himself he couldn’t even be annoyed, just getting him a beer and losing sight of him for the next three hours.

 

At least he thought he wouldn’t be hearing from Mizuki again, until his coil rang and he blinked in some confusion at the caller ID, wondering why somebody who he knew was in his house would need to phone him instead of just locating him. But he picked up nonetheless and accidentally greeted in German, correcting himself a second later and cheeks flushing pink in embarrassment even as the bartender didn’t mention it.

“Yo.”

“Noiz your husband thinks I’m you and is trying to come onto me. This was a terrible idea. Please help.” He could hear what was almost a scuffle and it took him a moment to register the words, wondering how drunk Aoba must be to mistake Mizuki for him and rolling his eyes, realising the implications and grinning instead.

“Oh he is? Awesome, I’ll be right there. Wait, where are you?”

“This sounds sinister, but your bedroom.”

That did sound sinister, but Noiz decided not to question it, just leaving the work colleagues he’d been chatting with, heading through the large house to their room to save the bartender from his husbands drunkenly wandering hands.

 

Less than twenty minutes later and the party was pretty much over, Noiz explained with obviously fake sadness that he’d had to put Aoba to bed sick and that he was very sorry but people should go home. Mizuki was more than happy, finding Sei easily and cringing at the sight of him in Aoba’s clothes, insisting he removed his wig and his husband looking baffled but doing as he was told anyway.

“We’re never doing that again.”

“Oh? But I had fun, how come?”

“Aoba may, or may not, have thought I was Noiz, and…. Molested me.”

“He… molested you? How exactly?” he didn’t sound very believing and he’d be insulted if he wasn’t so busy feeling strangely violated and, bizarrely, a little guilty despite the fact Noiz clearly hadn’t cared at all, more than pleased to let Aoba cling to him after he was peeled off his terrible look-alike.

“He grabbed my dick. Like twice.”

Sei knew he shouldn’t laugh, he knew that, but he’d had a couple of drinks and was feeling giggly as it was, without the knowledge that somehow their costumes had worked too well and his husband had been felt up by his twin. But it was fucking hilarious and even Mizuki’s whining objections didn’t do much to shut him up as he cackled most of the way back home.


	29. On an anniversary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paper beats rock, but did you know you can buy scissors that cut paper all wavy?

He wasn’t the crafty one, that was Sei, which was why when he’d had this idea, well, seen it online anyway, he’d wanted to try and imitate it only to surprise him, which had led to a rather baffling phone call with Tio.

“Can I come do a craft project at yours?”

“I’m sorry, a what?” He sounded more amused than anything else, because it was more the request of a small child than anything else and Mizuki could almost hear the mocking he’d receive if he’d genuinely gotten into arts and crafts, the phrase ‘midlife crisis’ already echoing in his ears.

“A craft project, I want to make something for Sei for our anniversary next week but I can’t do it here.”

“Oh _right_ , you should have said that to begin with. But yeah, sure thing, wanna come over a couple evenings and say we’re having a game night or something?”

“That’d be perfect, you’ve got Tuesday and Thursday off right?” He looked around absently for the timetable of the bar staff but his search was fruitless and he was pretty certain that after a good three years getting those two days off, he wouldn’t suddenly be scheduled in for either of the,.

“Mm-hm, I don’t have anything planned so just come over whenever.”

“You’re the best.”

“I know, but I gotta go, Kin’s back.”

For a second he was confused, but then he remembered that his boyfriend had moved in with him recently, something about his rent having gone up and it being the logical choice, hearing a door close and the sound of words in the background even as he knew his time on the phone was up. “Alright, bye.”

“Bye.”

 

* * *

 

Excuse sorted out for a couple of evenings, he needed to buy supplies, heading into a stationary and craft store he’d never entered before and finding a store assistant so helpful he’d found everything he needed in less than an hour and was headed to Tio’s earlier than he’d expected.

The bags were fairly heavy, packed with all the stuff he’d need, glitter glue as well as actual glue, stickers, adhesive gems and flowers, stencils, coloured card in various colours, ribbons and shiny string, but most importantly, the heavy, ring-bound scrapbook with thick white pages. He’d already left another bag with Tio the day before, loaded with bottles of wine as well as a few of Sei’s favourite fruit juices, the fancy sparkling ones that came in corked bottles like actual alcohol, his friend just accepting them silently and knowing he’d get an explanation the next day.

 

* * *

 

“So, what’s this craft project, and am I allowed to help?”

“I’m making him a scrapbook, and… I don’t know if you can help. I mean, I guess you could assist me, but I want to do it myself, if that makes sense?”

“Hm, so I just do what I’m told,” Mizuki shrugged, looking a little bothered by the idea but Tio just nodded, handing over a beer and sitting opposite him at the table, regarding all the supplies he’d brought and finally noticing the stack of photographs neatly placed at his left. “So, like is the theme your first year of marriage, or the whole relationship?”

“Just the first year, it’s our paper anniversary and I saw the idea online, it seemed good.”

“Your, _paper_ anniversary?” He sounded infinitely baffled, but that made sense, after all Mizuki hadn’t known what the hell it meant until he’d googled it and found it the type of strange tradition that Sei would just adore, and from that moment the idea had solidified in his mind.

“Mm, so 25 years is silver, then 50 is gold, and 60 is diamond. There are others in between obviously but I didn’t memorise them all, I think it’s a traditional thing but I’m not sure what country it’s from.”

“Oh, that’s kinda sweet, so you give gifts around that theme?”

“Yep, so, paper equals a scrapbook. But you know I’m about as creative as a teaspoon, so we might be here a while.”

“It’s cool,” he didn’t bother trying to reassure him that he was actually a very imaginative mind, they’d known each other long enough to be fine pointing out each other’s flaws, and being bad at crafts wasn’t the worst fault to have. “So you gunna start with the front page?”

“I already know what I’m doing, I want this picture,” he neatly slid it out of the stack, Tio noticing the coloured tabs stuck to them for easier identification, taking it carefully and frowning as he saw what it was. It was a nice picture he supposed, taken on their wedding day, but it was not what he’d expected him to choose, for a start neither of them were awake, and secondly they both looked exhausted, Sei’s head flopped onto Mizuki’s shoulder, legs draped over his and his hair tousled where he’d shifted in sleep.

“Um, why?”

“He hates this photograph, but after we had our first big argument and I stormed out, I came back and he was looking at the wedding album, at this photo. He told me he really hated it and I said I liked it, then he got angry again and threatened to tear it up but he never did.” He’d stopped drinking his beer then, inclining his head to the side because if Mizuki thought that settled the issue for him he was very wrong, if anything he’d made it more logical to use any photo _but_ that one.

“That’s not really a good explanation.”

“I know, I know, I just, I _like_ the others, the posed ones we took, they’re really nice. But this, it’s just so nice, we both look terrible and exhausted and we’re so tired we couldn’t even stay awake, but it’s…”

“Real.”

“Yeah, I guess so, and I know he doesn’t hate it as much as he said he does because we left the wedding album on the coffee table for a while and it was always opened to that page. It’s just special, and that’s really gay and soppy.”

He looked embarrassed now but Tio could hardly say he’d never gotten infatuated and gross, just light heartedly teasing him so he’d feel better, “gay? You? Never.”

“Very funny, now help me cut a heart out of this weird corrugated stuff.”

“Yes, Sir!”

 

* * *

 

“Still hard at work then?” “Mm, we’re nearly done. How was work?”

Mizuki deliberately didn’t look up at the voice, partially because he was really focusing on the glitter glue he was using, and also because he didn’t want to spoil the welcome home greeting the others were presumably giving each other, hearing the soft sound of a kiss and lip twitching contentedly.

“Pretty boring,” he could almost hear the shrug in his voice, Mizuki just glad to hear he’d still been alright at work since they’d fired a lot of people lately, figuring it made sense they’d be quiet on a Tuesday, tone clearly addressing him a moment later. “So, a scrapbook, right?”

“Mm-hm, paper anniversary and all that,” he spoke then, absently and without real focus because if he screwed up the glitter glue he’d ruin this whole page and it was Sei’s favourite photo of them, he refused to risk it.

“Yeah, Tio told me, it’s a good idea,” he was pulling off his tie then, the restaurant where he waited tables had gotten rather fancier since it was renovated and his white shirt and black tie combination got constricting after too long, having a nosey glance at the progress before excusing himself to the kitchen. Less than three minutes later he was back, frowning in confusion and regarding both Mizuki and his boyfriend with baffled eyes, “why is our sink full of wine bottles?”

“Oh, um, soaking off the labels and putting on handmade ones instead. Because, you know…”

“Paper.” Kin finished, nodding slowly before shrugging to say he didn’t really know what was going on but didn’t care either, Mizuki only really registering then how late it was and that he was certainly intruding now.

“I think… I’m gunna leave it here for now, I’m still okay to come on Thursday right?”

“Mm, of course. The bottles should be done soaking too so I’ll take the labels off tomorrow.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s good. Go home before he thinks we’ve murdered you or something.”

He just raised an eyebrow at that, because Sei would think nothing of the sort and was probably having a lovely evening lazing around in his underwear or doing a face mask or whatever other weird beauty thing he was into lately. They waved him off at the door, one last beer in his hand to drink on the fairly short walk back and the promise that the scrapbook would remain untouched until he returned.

 

* * *

 

Thursday came and went in an extremely long, almost whirlwind like crafting session that started at one in the afternoon and didn’t end until nearly midnight, Mizuki having severely underestimated how long it would take to complete the scrapbook and make new labels for six wine-type bottles. They had a break for food, deciding to order in and splitting the cost between them, Mizuki insisting they eat far away from his project and wolfing his noodles in less than ten minutes, to Tio’s amused horror, demanding they get back to it as soon as they could.

Kin had been drafted in the moment he got in from work and had agreed easily after Tio whispered something in his ear that the bartender pretended to have not noticed, deciding it was almost certainly better now to know. So he worked on writing the bottle labels, having the best handwriting of them all and being alarmingly good at pretty, curly writing, just doing as he was told and Tio being the one to decorate them afterwards.

Two mildly curious texts from Sei later and a short phone call in which he insisted they were in the middle of a zombie campaign and he’d be back really soon, they were done, twenty minutes left until midnight and the scrapbook having been dried with a hairdryer and much concerned hovering.

“Okay, thanks guys, you’re lifesavers.”

“Mm-hm, tell us what he thinks.”

“And I’d like some credit,” that was Tio, smiling a little shittily as Kin handed over the decorated bottles, loaded into a backpack he’d stash in the tattoo studio before he headed to his husband, not minding when the goodbyes were cut short by another phone call, just waving and heading off into the night with apologies and white lies on his lips.

 

* * *

 

Then the day dawned but Sei didn’t, remaining curled up in his sheets and perfectly comfortable as Mizuki slipped out of bed and crept around the house like some kind of shit ninja, inadvertently banging into everything he saw and clanking the glass bottles together so much it was a miracle Sei hadn’t woken up. But finally things were all set up and Tio was at the door with their breakfasts in a bag over his arm, trying to argue the extra cash that was thrust upon him but giving up when he heard movement from the bedroom beyond and Mizuki promptly, apologetically, shut the door in his face.

 

“Mizuki, what are you doing? It’s like nine.”

“It’s almost eleven, you lazy shit.”

“You’re mean,” he frowned then, looking suitably dishevelled in an oversized t-shirt of Mizuki’s and little else, boxers hidden under the long material, hair in terrible disarray and eyes crusted up with sleep, taking in the large wicker basket on the dining table. “What are you doing?”

“Making breakfast, sit down,” he pulled out a chair for him and wasn’t sure he deserved the suspicious look he was given as Sei just obeyed, sinking into his chair and wiping his eyes grouchily, perking up when he removed the familiar boxes from the bag and set one in front of him. “Waffle with banana, caramel and chocolate, or, waffle with mixed berry and fruit compote?”

“The chocolate one,” his eyes had lit up like streetlights and he licked his lips unconsciously as Mizuki put the correct boxes in their places, retreating into the kitchen momentarily to return with the pot of previously made coffee. He didn’t question any of it, just accepted the mug of coffee a little exaggeratedly, inhaling it and seeming to liven up just with the scent of quality beans and vanilla. “This is very cute.”

“Mm, only the best for you babe,” he kissed him then and damn was his morning breath bad, but then he hadn’t brushed his teeth either so he didn’t really care even as Sei pulled back with a light-hearted grimace. “Happy anniversary.”

He froze then, hands stilling on the mug he’d picked back up and looking both pale and alarmed in the same second, “I’m sorry, what now?” “Happy anniversary?”

“Oh fuck,” he announced this so loudly and suddenly that Mizuki was actually taken aback, blinking in surprise and raising an eyebrow as Sei lowered his mug loudly and gazed at him with panic in his expression. “It’s today. Shit. Oh my God I completely forgot. Mizuki I am _so_ sorry, oh God I feel awful how could I have forgotten?”

It was a little funny how freaked out he was, at least until his eyes filled with tears and he placed a hand over his mouth as if he was about to sob, then it rapidly became worrying instead and he reached out for his other hand, thumbing over his ring. “Whoa, hey, hey, relax, it’s fine. Okay? I’m not mad or anything.”

“But it’s our first proper anniversary!”

“So? We’ve had ones before this and you never forgot, it just slipped your mind.”

“No, it didn’t! I ordered you something but I don’t know if I got the day mixed up or what, I don’t know, but I knew it was soon!” He seemed more annoyed to have gotten the day wrong than to have forgotten altogether, which Mizuki wasn’t sure was logical, but he really didn’t mind anyway, almost amused that it was Sei who had messed up for once instead of him.

“So give me it when it arrives, you know I like late presents. Now come on, eat your waffle or I will get upset.” That was a lie, but Sei went back to it with only a little sniffle and no tears, sulking for about ten seconds, until Mizuki asked what he wanted to drink and pushed the basket of bottles over.

“Okay, so this is an awesome idea. But how are we meant to know what’s in the bottles?”

There was a tense silence in which Sei just stole a bite of Mizuki’s waffle and the bartender realised he’d made a mistake, “I mean, like wow, you’ve outdone yourself present-wise and I love it and you, but it’s a little early to accidentally get drunk.”

“Shit.”

 

* * *

 

“Sei, close your eyes and put your hands out.”

He looked suspicious then and he didn’t entirely appreciate that, narrowing his eyes and regarding him silently for a second, “you’re not gunna put your dick in my hand are you?”

“Why, on earth, would I do that?”

“Dunno, might be kinda funny,” he looked amused even as Mizuki stared at him exasperatedly, considering that it would be a _little_ funny even as he knew he wouldn’t ever do that because it would be a significantly odd thing to do.

“No, I’m not gunna put my dick in your hand. Now come on, hands out, eyes shut.” He obeyed, Mizuki placing the book in his hands and supporting it until Sei realised it was fairly heavy and had a good grip, releasing it. “Okay, open.”

There followed a long silence in which Sei just stared at the cover silently, fingers coming to run across the neatest handwriting the bartender had managed to do, then he eased it open and Mizuki just watched nervously as he carefully flicked through, lingering on every page. But then he closed it again and the bartender had sat by his side, and he opened his mouth and _whined._

“Mizukiii!” It wasn’t a tone he adopted often, but he knew it was good even as his eyes got wet and he laughed damply, using the voice that meant it was too cute and he didn’t know how to deal with it. His arms even flailed about a little bit in emotional overload, wiping away a tear and hand on the photo on the front cover, head coming to plop onto his shoulder and frowning, “I hate this photo.”

“I know, that’s why I used it.”

He hit him then, very gently admittedly, cheeks wet and just lowering the book to the coffee table so he could hug him and sniffle happily into his shoulder, “you asshole, my gift’s gunna look crap now.”

“That was my intention.”

“Remind me why I married you?”

“My money, I think? Or mutual desperation?” He joked as Sei wiped at his eyes, having shuffled almost into his lap, a pose alarmingly similar to that on the scrapbooks cover, glad he liked it even if he was having trouble expressing it in a normal fashion.

“That’s the one,” he just sat there for a little while, face in Mizuki’s neck and the bartender remarking quietly to himself that this had gone a mixture of very well and not at all how he’d expected. But then he took a deep breath and moved back, smiling warm and broad, expression earnest and Mizuki feeling a little smug, “thank you, it’s perfect. I feel like I need to do something to make up for the fact your present isn’t here yet.”

“That sounds a little prostitute-y.”

“Well you can pay me if you want but I already have your money.”

“Ah, such a sweet sentiment.” This joking banter had always been something they’d done but apparently wasn’t entirely normal, a fact he’d only learned recently when they’d been on a triple date with two other couples from Dry Juice, who had looked alarmed at the insults they’d thrown back and forth. But they were, of course, only joking and everything was said with affection, Sei rolling his eyes instead and pulling at his hoodie a little insistently.

“Shut up and kiss me.”

“You certainly don’t mince words.” He laughed a little then, shuffling across his lap to perch in a more comfortable position and Mizuki’s fingers already a little too high up on his inner thighs, whispering against his lips in the second before he kissed him and the bartender deciding this was definitely worth the shirt he’d ruined with glitter glue.

“Happy anniversary.”


	30. Shopping

“Ready to go shopping?”

“Mizuki, I’ve told you not to call it that.”

“Oh come on, it’s kinda funny.”

“To you perhaps, cretin.”

“Oi, don’t insult me using words I don’t understand.”

“Not my fault you’re such a pitiful dolt,” he earned another blank look then, a pause of at least ten seconds passing before the bartender began whining in his direction, Sei ignoring him and just leaving the apartment, husband catching up with a slowly dying frown as he offered his hand over and they set off.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hi! Welcome to our open day, I’m Hikari, I’m one of the primary staff here, did you sign up in advance?”

“Yeah, it’s Namida,” Sei smiled as he spoke his new last name, he and Mizuki hadn’t actually discussed either of them changing names until a couple of weeks before when Sei had raised it over dinner, announcing that he wanted to take Mizuki’s and make it a real family name. Mizuki had promptly cried and in between Sei being both alarmed and unsurprised in equal measure, the bartender had said that he’d really like that. Within a week the paperwork was done, and Sei Seregaki was no more.

“Alrighty, Sei and Mizuki, is it? Ah yes, you’ve gone through all the procedures already, excellent! Alright, in that case you can just wander around the grounds and inside, meet everybody and see how you feel about the place and our residents. If you like somebody you can arrange to spend more time with them to see how you get along, and then we’ll move on from there.”

“That sounds great, thank you.”

“Sure thing, have a good day!”

 

* * *

 

 

It was busy, very busy, and Sei could see how happy that made Mizuki as every room they came across was filled with both children and adults wanting to adopt or foster them, squeezing his hand tight and pleasant atmosphere relaxing any nerves he’d had. The kitchens were home to a small selection of older children who were baking amongst adults with rolled up shirt sleeves and ties draping over their borrowed aprons. There was an arts and crafts room that was an explosion of paints and glitter, the garden had games of impromptu football, kids playing in a sandpit and on the jungle gym, prospective parents speckled amongst them.

“I wonder why she asked about procedure.”

“Some people have chaperones, look,” Mizuki nodded over to a fairly young couple then, they were building sandcastles with a little girl, member of the orphanage staff stood nearby and observing them. “If they haven’t been cleared yet it wouldn’t be safe to leave them with a bunch of children.”

“Oh, I suppose so. I’m glad we got ours done so early then, though you being an old resident helped.”

“Mm, one benefit to it,” it was strange to see Mizuki so hesitant about things, having actually stopped dead for a moment before he stepped over the threshold into the place he’d spent his childhood, Sei knowing this was hard to relive for him but also knowing if they were adopting a child, it would be from here and nowhere else. “Come on, let’s go see the dining room, apparently the kids all made cookies and stuff.”

“You just wanna eat.”

“Maybe,” but even as he joked Sei knew he had another reason, debating that perhaps the dining room had been a place he’d particularly liked, imagining meal times might be a great relief for a less than normal childhood.

 

* * *

 

“Is that little Mizu-Mizu I see?” A rather large woman had stood up then, hands worn red with hard work and cheeks pink with good humour, approaching and neatly side stepping a wooden train that crossed her path, followed by a rambunctious pack of boys a moment later. She was smiling wide and fond as she reached them and took a moment to just scan over Mizuki who looked both sheepish and pleased to see her. “Oh, look at you all grown up! Makes me emotional.”

It sounded like she was joking, but she’d bitten her lip and brown eyes were getting a little watery as Mizuki reached for her first and he was enveloped in one of the warmest hugs he’d ever experienced. “Hi, oba-san. Miss me?”

“Oh, I miss all my kids. I’m glad to see you doing so well, I lost track of you a little I’m afraid, I spend so much time here and I’m not the type to gossip, I was so pleased when Sara told me you’d come to try and adopt yourself,” she paused then, eyes reaching Sei who just smiled with affection in his gaze, registering this was somebody his husband cared for. “Oh, you must be Sei! Goodness me, Mizuki, you got a pretty one there. It’s lovely to meet you dear, I’m Riko, but you can call me oba-san, everybody else does.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mizuki’s told me all about you and this place. Seems like it’s changed a lot since he was here.”

“It certainly has, and only for the better too. We were so overcrowded back then, I’m afraid it was that swine Toue, nobody adopted during those days, but now half our beds are unoccupied and getting new children is so rare we might even end up empty!”

“It would make a nice retirement gift for you, oba-san. To see everybody in a real home.”

“Mm, yes, but I think to myself often that even if children in your day never got that home, they’ve made their own now. In fact there’s at least four previous residents here today, including yourself, at least a couple from your old dorm, I believe, one’s looking into fostering one of our more… Challenging children. But enough about the past, have you two found anybody interesting yet?”

“Hm, not really. This’ll sound terrible, but I’m not very good with children, I don’t really know how to start a conversation or whatever.”

“Ah, so a baptism of fire for you then. But of course you’re not goo

d with them if you’ve never had them! Are you looking for anything in particular? Any gender?” “We’d like two,” Sei answered then, because it had been agreed that one might be lonely and they could easily afford a whole fleet of children were they to wish it. “A boy and a girl perhaps if they’re not siblings, otherwise we don’t mind much.”

“Two huh? Well, there’s Meiko and Sora, they’re eight and five, rather a nasty background I’m afraid but they’re both very well behaved, they’re usually in the greenhouse, Sora likes the plants and Meiko… Well, she’s our little water baby.”

“The greenhouse, you actually use that now?”

“Mm, it’s a new one, the old one was demolished after… Well, it’s history now, best not to dwell on it, hm, Mizu-Mizu?”

“I’m a little old for that nickname now, don’t you think?”

“Seems that way, well I’m very pleased to see you and I know I’ll be seeing you a lot more when you find your perfect matches. But I’m afraid I have an awful lot to do and I’ve got the feeling those boys are trashing my lovely floors so I must go, have a lovely day though!” She barely waited to hear them say their farewells, charging off after a toddling child with his fingers in his mouth and scooping him up so fast he squealed in delight, spritely for her size and laughing warmly as she disappeared.

 

* * *

 

 

“What happened in the greenhouse?”

“We had a groundskeeper who was a little… handsy, with some of the girls. I’d rather not talk about it.” He’d seen Sei’s grimace and he wouldn’t deny that just remembering it made him feel sick, recalling when it had all been revealed and horror had spread between the residents, having been old enough then to really know what that meant and the long lasting effects it would have.

But Sei just allowed his evasiveness, smiling instead and rubbing across his knuckles slowly, tone soft and understanding as he changed the subject, “okay, want to try and find Meiko and Sora?”

“You remembered their names.”

“Of course, they might be ours one day.”

 

* * *

 

"Hi.”

“Hullo,” only the boy answered, the girl just huffed and turned away, sat on the edge of a fountain with her bare legs trailing in the water, hem of her shorts damp where they weren’t quite short enough. It was rather annoying, for Mizuki anyway, that Sei disappeared to speak to the boy almost immediately, crouching next to him on the ground and asking whether it was his garden, telling him how beautiful his pansies were and starting conversation easily. He, it seemed, had been left to try and communicate with the girl, Meiko, who seemed to have no interest in him whatsoever, sliding into the water a moment later and soaking herself up to the waist, hand trailing through the water.

“You seem bored.”

“Bit.”

“How come? Don’t you want to talk to all the adults?”

“No point, we never get chosen.” Something about that was so final and so damned sad that Mizuki’s throat felt thick for a second before he spoke, feeling terrible that a girl this young was already so out of hope that she’d find a happy home.

“I used to live here. When I was little.” This, it seemed, had piqued her interest and she turned to regard him cautiously, grey eyes regarding him and not speaking as he continued though she did shift in the water so she faced him properly, tucking wet knees up to her chest. “I lived here from when I was a little tiny baby til I was eighteen and I could leave.”

“Nobody adopted you?”

“No,” that was a half lie, but the six months he’d spent with his adoptive parents had been so pointless and stupid that it was best not to mention it, he didn’t want to get her hopes up only to tell her that a forever family often was nothing of the sort. “When I was here it wasn’t a very nice place and very few kids got adopted. But there’s lots of adults here today, why don’t you think you’ll get chosen?”

“They think I’m weird.”

“They do? How come?” He had to admit he agreed a little bit because she was currently sat in a water fountain brooding, an odd activity for anybody let alone an eight year old, she seemed a little like she might be trouble, emotionally at least.

“I ask them to play with me and they don’t want to get wet.”

“You really like the water?”

“I swim.”

“You do? Where at?”

“The pool. We go every week. I’m the fastest.” Somehow this made pride swell in his chest because hell yeah she was the fastest, but it also made some kind of sad nostalgia grow in his chest because he’d never gotten treats like that, to go to the pool even once would have been a dream, let alone every week. But he wasn’t here to mourn his own past, he was here to help a child’s future, or maybe two given how well Sei and Sora seemed to be getting on.

“Wow, that’s really impressive! Do you wish you could swim more?”

“I would every day if I could. Oba-san said if I get adopted that maybe they’d take me and I could get even better!” She brightened for a moment, her long, rather messy hair lying on the surface of the water where it tumbled down her back, but then it seemed she remembered that life was cruel and her smile faded. “But nobody wants to adopt us.”

“Maybe I do.”

“You don’t. You won’t even play with me.”

“In the water?” She nodded and he sensed a sudden fiery streak in her, stubborn to a fault and challenging in the way Mizuki had always liked, pausing only to empty his pockets and ditch his coil, considering the walk home and deciding that if it made a little girls day he didn’t care. So he stood, and watched her mouth open in surprise as he stepped, fully dressed, into the fountain and sat down, water cold where it seeped through his skin and almost regretting his decision until the second her eyes widened and she smiled shyly.

“You’re weird.”

“Little bit,” he smiled in response and splashed water at her lightly, hitting her knees, watching her tilt her head to the side, eyes narrowed a little as if revaluating him.

“What’s your name?” “Mizuki, and that’s my husband over there, Sei.” She didn’t even turn to look, hearing her brother laugh and presumably knowing all was well, maybe seeing hope flood back and perhaps even looking at him and seeing a future, a family, a life away from this where she could swim.

“You’ve got a husband?”

“Mm-hm.” “Cool.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Mizuki!” He turned then, Oba-san regarding him from the gate with a knowing smile and the other prospective parents looking bemused as to why he was soaked, Meiko making her own damp way over and hesitating in front of them, Sora close behind but a little slower. Her face was almost frowning as she spoke, seeming reluctant and that small spark of attitude showing again, “we like you.”

“Yeah? You wanna see us again some time? We might even be able to take you swimming.” Mizuki knew they’d definitely need a chaperone for something like that, even with all the paperwork and checks they’d gone through the orphanage wouldn’t risk anything and taking an essentially strange child swimming was a little suspect even if it was meant innocently.

“I don’t like swimming!”

“Well we can get ice-cream while they swim,” Sei was quick to fix this issue, kneeling so he was at face level with them both and smiling that awfully warm smile he had. “So, can we come see you again?”

“Yeah!” Sora actually jumped in the air with excitement, Meiko just nodding once and rather sharply, seemingly trying to stay on her guard even as her lip twitched up into a smile, turning as a voice called for her and her brother and they had to leave, escorted away by a beaming member of staff who stared at them like they were saints. “You better come back!”

“We will! We promise!”

 

* * *

 

 

Sei didn’t speak for a while, just holding Mizuki’s damp hand and regarding him with only mild curiosity because he’d presumably joined Meiko in the water for a reason, “I, uh, think we found our kids.”

“Me too. Ah, shit, I didn’t think we’d manage that fast, or at all.”

“Yeah, but I have a question, why did you get into the fountain with her?”

“She said nobody ever wanted to adopt them because they think she’s weird and wouldn’t play with her in the water, so…”

“You played with her in the water.” “

Yeah, she seemed sad, I didn’t like it.”

“You’re such a softie.” Sei’s tone was teasing but his smile was warm and Mizuki could tell he was really happy with how the day was gone so he let the taunt slide, remarking a moment later that he felt really gross as his clothes steamed dry in the sun.

 

* * *

 

 

They rang the orphanage the next day and arranged to see Meiko and Sora again, twice a week for the next month, to give them enough time to see if they meshed well, then after that they’d be able to start the process to properly adopt them. It was Meiko who was guarded around them, Sora warming to them immediately and berating them with questions as if the decision had already been made that one day they’d leave with them.

 

“If we come to live with you, can I have my own bedroom?”

“Yeah, of course, if you want, and you can decorate it however you like.”

“I could!? I want space!”

“You like space?”

“And aliens, I like them the most.”

 

“What would we call you?”

“Hm, well you could use our names if you wanted, or anything really.”

 

“What’s your house like?”

“It’s really nice, and it’s got a big garden so you could plant flowers, and we could get a pond for Meiko if she wanted. It’s near the pool too so we could take her, and there’s a nice school nearby you could both go to and make lots of friends.”

Sei answered most of these questions, Mizuki had made it his mission to try and relax Meiko, who spent most of their time together sat in her fountain or occasionally fidgeting inside, only really relaxing in the last week of meeting when they were allowed to take her to the pool to watch her swim.

 

“If I lived with you, how often could I swim?”

“Every day if you wanted, after school they have classes you could go to,” Sei looked surprised that he knew that, busy repotting some kind of pink blossom with Sora, glancing up to make sure things were going okay. “Would you like to live with us?”

“Mm, I think so. I know Sora would.”

“So, if we adopted you, would you like that?”

“Forever?” There was something insistent in her tone and it made Mizuki feel strangely confused again, like there was something here he was missing, wondering if this was related to the bad background that Oba-san had mentioned at the open day several weeks ago.

“Yeah, forever.”

“You won’t… What if you leave Sei and marry somebody else who doesn’t like us?”

“I- That’s not going to happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because I love Sei, and I’d never be with anybody else, especially not somebody who didn’t like you.”

“Then I guess we can live with you.”

“So, if we went to see Oba-san and could take you home next week, would you like that?”

She didn’t reply for a moment, a long yawn leaving her lips and blinking tiredly, seemingly exhausted after a whole day with them, just shuffling along the bench they were sat on to lean on his side and nodding instead.

 

* * *

 

 

“So, you want to adopt Meiko and Sora, hm? Well it’s about time! They’ve been here far too long as it is so I’ll try and hurry this through for you. A few things though, pointers more than anything. We do have to tell you their backstory but it is quite unpleasant and we only really need to tell one of you so… If one of you perhaps would rather not know..?”

“You wanna know?”

“Mm, I think we both should,” Sei’s nod was firm but Mizuki could see the anxiousness in his eyes as they turned back to Oba-san who regarded them across the desk, not showing whether she was glad he wanted to know too, just shuffling papers and licking her lips in preparation.

“Alright, I won’t dwell on details because that’s unnecessary. But essentially, when they were both quite young, before Sora was even born I believe, their mother divorced their father and remarried. This new husband murdered their mother, beat her to death, essentially, in front of them both. Meiko sort of remembers it, not in any details but she knows her new father did something terrible and that her mother never came back. Sora doesn’t seem to remember it at all but he does have nightmares. I don’t know if it’ll be any relief to you that he never did anything to them, but, I’m afraid that’s their story.”

They had nothing to say, what could they say? Sei’s hand had gotten a little tight on Mizuki’s and he’d made a horrible sound as the truth had come out, eyes presumably growing wet as Oba-san just silently pushed a box of tissues towards him.

“We- We still want them, right, Sei?”

“Of course we do, even more,” he nodded but his eyes were wet even as he dabbed at them, sniffing because it was so horrible it wasn’t worth thinking about.

“Alright, excellent. Well I’m sorry I had to tell you that, I know it’s upsetting, but, if you’re still one hundred percent, there’s just some forms to fill in, they’ll take about a week to process, then they’ll be all yours.”

 

* * *

 

 

“What else do we need?”

“Books, at least a few to start with.”

“Alright, so we can go to that place on the next street for those, then somewhere for toys?”

“Did we get bedding yet?”

“Oh, no, but shouldn’t we let them pick that? I mean, we let them choose colours for their bedrooms, it makes sense they pick bedding too.” They’d spend the weekend before decorating both their bedrooms, some guys from the team had volunteered to help, one of whom was an expert wallpaper and dealt with that while the rest of them stuck to painting, being repaid in pizza later in the evening and as many beers as they could drink.

“Hm, you don’t think we’re spoiling them already, do you?”

“Aren’t we allowed to?”

“Of course we’re allowed to, I just don’t want them to think they can have anything they want.” Sei frowned then, looking down at the already full bags they both carried, full of stuffed animals and toys and anything else a kid could need to feel comfortable and at home, dumb glittery toothpaste and brushes with fancy patterns and bright colours.

“I think we’re allowed to spoil them a bit at first, they didn’t exactly have a nice time so far.”

“I know. I almost wish they hadn’t told us.”

“They had to I guess, in case anything happens because of it. Like one of them acts up or something, which would be reasonable. God, what a horrible thing to let your kids see.”

“Can we please not talk about it?” His hand had tensed in his and Mizuki felt bad immediately, when the social worker had told them the reason they’d been removed from their home, Sei had looked horrified and promptly cried the moment they got home, so reminding him wasn’t the best idea when it was always in the back of his mind anyway. “Today’s meant to be fun.”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry, babe. Right, so, books? Wait, can they read yet?”

“They’re five and eight, of course they can. Didn’t you do any research?”

“I mean, not a lot. Oh, I wanna get a football too. Do we need nappies?”

“Five and eight Mizuki, five and eight. No, they don’t need nappies, Jesus you don’t know anything about kids this is going to be a disaster.” He was half joking but he had to admit it was a little alarming to realise how unprepared both of them were, supposing that natural parents probably felt exactly the same and knowing Noiz and Aoba had gone through this themselves.

“That’s right, remain positive at all times why don’t you? But sorry. That was a pretty dumb question, but I don’t know at what ages kids can do stuff!”

“Isn’t it reassuring that we’re going to have two in a week then?”

“Extremely, I shall learn as I do.” He sounded suddenly very serious, like this was some desperately important task he needed to be the best at, and knowing Mizuki, he probably would be.

“Guess that’s not the worst idea.”

 

* * *

 

 

They settled in bed remarkably easily on their first night, both exhausted after a long exciting day, Sora clutching his stuffed diplodocus and Meiko’s swimming costume over the back of her chair where she could see it from her bed. It was a little odd, they had to admit, to suddenly realise that these were their kids now, that they were parents and they had to look after them, but it was obvious in Sei’s ever present smile and Mizuki’s nervous attempts to make everything perfect, that they were both nothing but thrilled.

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr @ [minky-way](http://minky-way.tumblr.com)


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